Pumpkin Businesses Boom, Farmers Face Weather, Cost Pressures

Pumpkin season is bringing both new consumer offerings and challenges for growers. In the U.S., porch-decorating businesses are gaining popularity, with services that deliver and arrange pumpkins costing as much as $2,000. Across Portugal, higher expected harvest volumes and good crop quality contrast with rising production and transport costs and uncertain demand. In parts of England, drought cut one farm’s pumpkin yield by half, while storms forced several UK pumpkin patches to close and caused damage and lost sales. A hot, dry summer has also left pumpkins smaller at an Amarillo-area farm, where higher fuel and supply costs have made sourcing harder, though the owner has largely kept prices steady.