Demand for pumpkins and squash has risen in recent years, with a larger appetite for celebrating Halloween pushing up pumpkin consumption while celebrity chefs, Jamie Oliver in particular, have helped to champion squash.
This season, squash supply is forecast to be lower, while pumpkin producers are reporting business as usual.
At the beginning of the month, David Bowman, the UK’s largest specialist pumpkin grower, completed his harvest of 500 acres of pumpkins. He estimates that he has produced up to 3.5 million pumpkins this year in what started as a very dry season. “There’s a good mixture of sizes and quality is as good as last year,” he adds.
James Meers, account manager at Barfoots of Botley, reports that pumpkins are “looking fantastic this year”, with ideal conditions on the south coast. “The right levels of light, rain and perfect temperature have meant a bumper crop here on the south coast, with a size of pumpkin considerably bigger than previous years have led us to expect,” he says.
In other parts of the country, the dry spell when pumpkins were initially planted did not do growers any favours and a minority of plantings haven’t sized up. However, sources agree that a good range of sizes is available and inevitably, the pumpkins planted on the best silts have produced the best size fruit.
Dan Mackelden Ltd increases its pumpkin production every year. “We’ve got a good mix of pumpkin sizes this year and as long as the market conditions are similar to last season, I’ll be happy,” says director Mark Thompson.
The Maidstone-based producer grows a number of pumpkin varieties including Harvest Moon, Racer, Firestar and Spooktacular. It is also trialling other pumpkin types.
Growers are anticipating similar market conditions to last season. “We don’t expect to see much change though the volumes sold may increase if one of the retailers promotes, which will increase demand,” says Steve Whitworth, sales manager of Oakley Farms. “Prices are expected to be similar to last year, with hopefully a small percentage increase to cover our increases in labour and other growing costs.”
Oakley Farms began harvesting pumpkins in early September and had its product out of the field, graded and under cover early in the season. “If we are subjected to any early frosts then we have the crop protected rather than left in the field, which will affect the general quality and shelf life,” Whitworth explains.
The producer has increased its acreage slightly this season. “One or two of our retail customers felt they were missing some sales and programmed more volume to make sure those sales were captured,” Whitworth explains. “We provide the quality that they require and together, we both see growth year on year without either of us feeling the need to look elsewhere.”
Some producers fear the economic climate will bite deeper this season, but others are unperturbed.
“The pumpkin market has a very short season - basically the month of October - and I do not believe the economic climate will affect demand for pumpkins,” says Ian Cole, technical manager of CR Melton & Sons. “As long as young and old wish to celebrate Halloween, pumpkins will be a part of the activities.”
Pumpkin growers are hopeful that the market has turned a corner, with some sources reporting an improvement in the weather and growing conditions over the last two years.
A number of growers are putting significant effort into trialling new varieties. Indeed, Oakley Farms is trialling about a dozen new varieties and Whitworth says that some of these will be used commercially next year. “Others won’t be available commercially for a couple of years and some of which we definitely won’t want to use based on this year’s results,” he adds.
Bowman says he is always trialling new varieties and while it takes around five years for a pumpkin to come into commercial production, there is one variety that looks promising. “This 7-8lb pumpkin has grown well and it’s being produced on one acre this year - I’ll be thinking of a five-acre trial for 2011,” he tells FPJ.
The firm was once again the main sponsor of the Spalding Pumpkin Festival, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. A week’s worth of events were held to mark the occasion and the festivities kicked off with a Family Fun Day.
The culmination of celebrations took place throughout Spalding town centre and surrounding streets during the whole day event.
Meanwhile, strong demand and innovations in the squash sector are propelling the sector forward, but there could be challenges this season.
A favourable climate and good light and heat units are needed to allow the crop to mature and cure and to provide a crop that will store. Fortunately, the lack of frosts and low night temperatures has enabled growers to maintain the harvesting of the crop without worries of fruit damage.
However, August was a poor month for squash production and Cole points out that over the last 10 years, the rainfall figures for August have been largely unfavourable. Indeed, 2003 and 2009 saw the only two dry Augusts, with 2008 and 2010 being particularly wet.
Butternut squash has been hit hardest due to low light levels, resulting in lower than hoped for sugar levels and colour.
“Butternut squash requires high temperatures to cure it and give its characteristic colouring so these stay in our polytunnel as long as needs be until they are sold,” Cole explains.
However, high-sugar squashes are cropping well and they also don’t require long periods of high temperatures to cure.
According to Meers, the squash season has seen reduced yields by as much as 20-30 per cent on some varieties. However, he is keen to point out that the crop that’s made it through is of “cracking quality”.
Barfoots has increased its squash acreage slightly this year and has adapted the acreage to reflect additional processing grade squash. “These varieties grow better in the UK, having a higher sugar level where a traditional butternut variety can struggle with colour and sugar, especially in an August like this year,” explains Meers.
Barfoots is also including a new variety, Munchkin Squash, to complement the Halloween season this year.
Because of the UK climate, squash producers can produce a fairly high percentage of smaller-sized fruit. Although this isn’t suitable for processors and some other outlets, Cole says it is an ideal size for an individual meal. However, a lack of interest in the small sizes from some quarters means that product can be discarded.
Dan Mackelden Ltd is also active in the squash sector and trials different squashes every year. Thompson says the UK squash market is worth pursuing but it’s a niche and is much smaller than its pumpkin business. “You can’t grow the volumes unless you have a steady contract with the retailers, although wholesale will take some squash,” he explains.
Producers are hoping for stable prices this year. However, some insiders have expressed concern that supermarkets are trying to force down prices but with ever-rising costs, producers are standing firm.
Tozer Seeds says it is the only company actively breeding winter squash for UK production. Butternut varieties account for the majority of winter squash sales and two very popular varieties are Kabocha and Crown Prince. According to the firm, the long storage potential of some winter squash varieties means that sales can continue through to the spring of the following year.
The company also reports strong demand for onion squash and sales of its onion squash seed have risen by more than 50 per cent on 2009, according to Charlotte Wheeler, Tozer Seeds’ product developer for squash and pumpkins.
Autumn Crown is a brand-new development in British squash breeding, having been developed specifically to be easy to grow and mature early under challenging UK summers, even in the north of England. The squash is bred by Jamie Claxton, one of Tozer’s on site plant breeders.
“This variety combines the best characteristics of the two most prized squashes - the attractive colour of a butternut squash and the shape and long storage of a Crown Prince,” explains Wheeler. “The resulting deep orange flesh has a unique delicious, sweet melon aroma when cut and the seed cavity is small.”
Other new squashes include Hercules, a larger variety bred for the Northern European climate and Hornet, which produces very neat uniform fruit that forms very close to the centre of the plant, allowing ease of harvest.
“We have sold the Hornet and Hercules to quite a few UK growers and hope to sell more next year as they grow in popularity,” Wheeler explains.
Growers are confident that there’s strong potential for squash and that it’s becoming more recognisable in the UK, fuelling consumption. According to Meers, the recession hasn’t affected squash sales significantly. “Squash is high in vitamin A and C alongside other key nutrients and its long shelf life and excellent value for weight make it a natural recession food choice,” he says.
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