Texas Pumpkin Crop Hit By Season Of Spooky Weather

Farmers say their jack-o’-lantern crops have been haunted by hurricanes.

By Rachel ZeinOctober 10, 2017 12:08 pm,

Due to recent unpredictable weather, farmers say it’s been more difficult than usual to get jack-o’-lantern pumpkins to Texas porches this year.

Tim Assiter, owner of Floydada Pumpkins in Floydada, Texas, says, “We have seen one of the most extreme years that we have seen in farming.”

Assiter says that every year, some parts of the country have problems with the pumpkin crop. This time, hurricanes may have affected pumpkins in states like Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas.

That’s because there was simply too much rain during harvest. “It’s not that the pumpkins are not there,” he says. “It’s that the soil is so wet. Everything is hand-harvested. It is a very labor-intense crop, and we just can’t get the machinery logistically through the field to get the pumpkins loaded.”

Heat is another problem for pumpkins. On a hot day, Assiter says, “you better get some spice ready because you’re going to have a cooked pumpkin on your front porch.”

Still, Assiter says Texans can count on carving pumpkins this Halloween.

“The good news is we’re a little late, but we’re there now, and I think we’re going to get these out,” he says.

 

Written by Jen Rice.