Fears over Halloween 2022 UK pumpkin shortage brought on by summer heatwaves

Do you and your family enjoy an annual trip to your local pumpkin patch to pick up your number one Halloween decoration?

This year, sadly, it may be much tougher to do so.

This is because there are growing fears over a pumpkin shortage hitting the UK this year due to the prolonged heatwave conditions.

It is expected that this will have a huge impact on Halloween, with pumpkin carving being one of the most popular activities at this time of year.

The shortage is also expected to lead to a rise in the price of pumpkins as demand rises.

This news comes after news of supermarkets such as Aldi and Waitrose announcing they would sell vegetables that have been stunted by the brutal summer temperatures.

The Mirror has reported that the UK’s pumpkin harvest fell by a third, and that families have been warned that pumpkin carving events could be cancelled due to the shortage.

Farmers have already this year reported a fall in the produce level of other fruit and vegetables including broccoli and strawberries.

This too is as a result of the scorching heatwave temperatures parts of the UK experienced this summer.

Guy and Emily French, who run Foxes Farm Produce in Basildon, Essex - one of the UK’s leading pumpkin wholesale growers - said to The Mirror that their harvest was down by a third.

Mr French said: “The quality of the pumpkin is good - the skin finish is good, they’re a really good orange. But the drought had a knock-on impact on yield. You just haven’t got the volume there.”