Area farm seeing low yield in pumpkin crop this year

Michael and Suzanne Garver said there’s been a 50 percent decrease in yield on their own 25 acres of pumpkin fields.

“In past years when we don’t have a good crop, at least somebody around has something to fill in,” Michael said. “Last week, we started to get in our pumpkins, and I just saw the writing on the wall. This isn’t good.”

Garver Family Farm Market uses a supplier out of Connersville, Ind., for part of its pumpkin stock. The owner of the 800-acre pumpkin farm said he couldn’t ship any pumpkins this year to Garver.

Because of this, the farm market has had to make some “difficult” changes, including closing the pick-your-own-pumpkin patch; closing wholesale pumpkin orders; and increasing pumpkin prices. Typically, the farm donates pumpkins to area organizations each fall — something they’ve had to cut.

“We had to make the very really difficult decision this year to cut off most of those orders to put our customers first and make sure we have a supply for them,” said Alayna Garver-Taylor, Michael and Suzanne’s daughter and owner/operator at the market.

But, Suzanne Garver said, the market will have enough pumpkins for direct customers.

Weather matters

JT Benitez, educator for agriculture and natural resources at the Ohio State University’s Butler County extension office, said the weather has been the major factor in this year’s pumpkin yield.

“(There) was too much rain in the early season, then it got too hot for a long time and then it just dried out to no rain for weeks,” he said. “It has not been ideal for pumpkin growth.”

Benitez said pumpkins are already a “finicky” crop to grow, and in his memory, there hasn’t been summer like this in recent years that led to a poor pumpkin yield.

He said this is a regional issue covering the Ohio Valley and parts of Indiana and Kentucky.

“We’re...in the driest part of the country right now,” Benitez said.

While Garver is experiencing a lower pumpkin yield, other farms in Butler County and the region are hopeful for their fall harvest.

Ben Young, owner at Young’s Jersey Dairy, said its pumpkin yield “looks pretty good this year.”

Young’s Jersey Dairy grows its own pumpkins and purchases some from a neighboring farm.

Karen Burwinkel, manager of Burwinkel Farms in Ross Twp., said they plant their pumpkins in mid-June, which is a bit later than most area farms that typically plant at the end of May to early June.

“Ours are a little bit behind everybody’s, and I’m wondering if that’s not a good thing this year because of the way the weather was,” she said.

Burwinkel added while different crops are setting up to bloom, high temperatures can “burn up the bloom.”

“It’s too early to for us to say whether we’re experiencing that,” she said. “Based on what we’ve seen in the field, I think everything looks okay.”

Burwinkel Farms starts its pumpkin harvest this week.

“Our initial thoughts are we’re really hopeful that it’s a normal year for us,” Burwinkel said.

The fall season typically makes up about 40 percent of their annual revenue, according to Burwinkel.

Like Burwinkel Farms, fall is the busiest season for Garver Family Farm Market.

When Garver Family Farm Market posted on Facebook about its fall changes, many Facebook commenters said they would still be buying their pumpkins from the market and thanked the business for its transparency.

“It was very good to see...even people who said, ‘I’ve never been to your farm, but (your post) is so transparent, and it was so true, I’m coming here. And I’m going to buy a pumpkin, and I don’t care what it looks like,’” Suzanne Garver said.

But, she said, there’s “always a concern” for revenue loss.

“We’re going to lose a lot of revenue, because we’re going to lose all of our wholesale,” she said.

This volatility is “part of farming,” though, Suzanne Garver said. “I’ve always said we’re the biggest gamblers out there.”

“God will make a way,” she added. “We’ll get through it. There will be another year.”