One of the UK’s largest growers of pumpkins has said there is “full availability” of the squash this year despite the summer heatwave. There had been reports of a potential shortage of the gourds this Halloween due to the prolonged dry weather but a major supermarket supplier says harvest numbers are the same as last year.
Oakley Farms, based near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, which supplies Tesco, grows around five million pumpkins each year. Steve Whitworth, operations director at Oakley Farms, said: “While we had the summer heatwave and subsequent downpour in early September, we’ve had no issues with our pumpkins and there is full availability of great quality this year.”
Tesco pumpkin buyer Emily Hampson said: “The quality of the pumpkins that have started arriving at our stores this week are as good as ever and we have a wide variety of choices available. Interest in Halloween continues to grow and last year we saw an all-time record demand for pumpkins.
