A ‘Magnificent Harvest’ for the Pumpkin Crop in Some Areas — Despite Dry Conditions

Monday, October 30, 2023

Drought has affected several pumpkin-producing states, including Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. But rain arrived at the right time to produce a bumper crop in parts of the Midwest.

John Ackerman says his pumpkin crop was a good one this year, despite the fact his fields saw no measurable rainfall for weeks in the late spring and early summer.

“You know pumpkins, they like it dry but not too dry, and they was getting bad,” said Ackerman.

Then rain came just as it was needed for Ackerman, a third-generation farmer who grows pumpkins, corn, soybeans and wheat on his farm in Tazewell County, Illinois.

“We are so blessed that we caught enough rains to end up with a magnificent harvest,” he said. “Pumpkins look great this year.”

The pumpkin crop turned out well despite dry conditions throughout much of Illinois, the nation’s top producer of pumpkins, as well as in Indiana and parts of Michigan. But Texas pumpkin growers didn’t fare as well. AgriLife, the Texas A&M extension service, reports that yields are down 20%-40% this year in parts of the state where pumpkin farming is most prevalent.

While drought conditions were fairly mild in Michigan, yields are down at Johnson’s Pumpkin Farm, outside Saginaw. Mike Houghtaling, who owns the farm with his wife Erin, says they were hit by drought in May and June, then flooding on his land during July and August.

“When it’s too dry, you don’t have any moisture to get the seed to germinate and grow,” explained Houghtaling.

Then they got too much rain.

“And no plant — I don’t care what crop it is — it doesn’t want to have standing water,” he added.

Still, Houghtaling says his farm is getting by, while other pumpkin farmers in Michigan had better yields, depending on their location and soil type.