With this summer’s weather providing exactly the opposite of what a squash crop needs, the 2007 season has been an exceptionally bad one for the vegetable. As retailers throughout the country are preparing their Halloween promotions, growers are warning that they may not be able to meet demand.
“A pumpkin cannot stand cold, wet conditions, and in Spalding it has been nothing but cold and wet for the last two months,” says David Bowman, managing director of David Bowman Ltd, which grows more than one million pumpkins a year and exports some to Europe. “We have had the worst season in 35 years. We had perfect planting conditions; the ground was drilled and the seeds were planted in excellent weather. But, literally the day after we planted, it rained and did not stop.”
Even in areas of the UK that managed to escape this summer’s heavy downpour, the weather was not kind to squash growers. Mark Thompson of Dan Mackelden Ltd acknowledges that this season has been harder than most, but it has been hail damage that has put his squash crop in Kent behind schedule. “A bout of hailstones happened to hit two of our fields, which caused problems,” he says. “It shredded the crop and capped the ground, which set back the young seedlings.”
Although the firm’s squash crop has been hit hard by the weather, its pumpkin crop, set for Halloween celebrations, is looking good. The business produces 1,500 tonnes of pumpkins and a further 500t of other squash varieties, such as butternut and Kabocha, a year. “If anything, we have probably got the best crop we have ever had for pumpkins. Even though it is behind schedule, it is as good a crop as last year,” says Thompson.
Indeed, quality does not seem to be an issue for most pumpkin growers, with crops producing decent sizes and limited skin scarring. But due to a delayed season, the pumpkin’s trademark orange colour may not appear in time for Halloween.
“Our pumpkins are still green at the moment and only heat storage will turn them orange; but we do not have enough capacity and it is going to be very expensive,” says Bowman, whose company supplies all the major multiples. “There is no way around it, so retailers’ specifications are going to have to change, as the pumpkins are not going to be bright orange. We are loading stores, but we have no idea how it is going to turn out.”
Steve Whitworth of Oakley Farms is experiencing a similar situation. The business has been growing pumpkins for the Halloween trade since the 1980s and, due to its success, started to grow smaller edible squash, such as butternut, in the 1990s. “This year has been exceptional, in that pumpkins were planted prior to heavy rainfall in June and July, and some product was literally washed away,” says Whitworth. “Also, the summer was cooler than normal, so the pumpkins are still predominantly green rather than orange.”
But reduced yield is the main issue for pumpkin growers across the UK, who are reporting that yield is down on last year by as much as 20 per cent for all pumpkin varieties.
“Suppliers will have to import some pumpkins, as a great deal of British product has been lost,” says Bowman. “But the problem is that demand from Europe for pumpkins is rising because they have had just as contrary weather as the UK. We will not see the full effect of the bad weather until the end of the season. We will have to hope it will pan out well.”
Edible squash crops have also dipped in yield. “We have experienced losses with the squash crop due to the cold weather,” says Thompson. “They need a hotter climate to grow. Last year was superb, but another year like this for butternut squash and the industry will be in trouble. We only have 50 per cent of what we had last year; but the next couple of weeks will tell - there is still time for it to recuperate.”
An increase in consumer demand has been pushed forward by the multiples and the squash industry is experiencing an increase in sales. “I’d say that we see an average 15 per cent rise in our pumpkin and squash sales every year,” says Thompson. “But this is mainly due to the smaller producers giving up. However, it is not just the large supermarkets that are selling squash now. A lot of smaller retailers and farmers’ markets are selling them. And a lot of people outside of the fresh produce industry are using pumpkins as a good source of revenue, such as Wilkinsons and B&Q. We are looking for new markets all the time, so we don’t have to rely on one customer.”
Sainsbury’s has seen the vegetable’s popularity increase and welcomes squash into its stores. “The biggest challenge we have is educating our customers as to how to handle them,” says John Maylam, produce trading manager for Sainsbury’s. “The support of British TV chefs has certainly helped butternut make the transition from niche to mainstream. Its simplicity and health benefits have given our customers a taste for squash, and they are now more confident to try new varieties. Whenever Kabocha or Crown Prince is in season, there is a notable sales increase. These two delicacies have completely different taste profiles to butternut and are the most popular in the southern hemisphere, where the market is more mature.”
“Pumpkins are definitely becoming more popular,” says Bowman. “It is because of Halloween, of course, but also some of the smaller culinary pumpkins such as Rebecca and Pie Star are becoming popular with shoppers.”
Many supermarkets started selling British pumpkins in the third week of September, with promotions starting in the second week of October. Asda sells an average of 800,000 pumpkins each year, and continues to push the vegetable forward in the minds of its customers. “We always try to boost pumpkin sales and we usually sell more each year,” says Rachel Hayden, produce marketing manager for Asda. “We have better deals on in store every year to entice customers. Also Halloween as an event is getting bigger. So far the pumpkins are much smaller this year and growth has been much slower, but we should be fine for the season.”
Sainsbury’s has also made allowances, but is confident that it will have the stock in time. “There has been a lot of disappointment already, with entire crops washed out in the Midlands and eastern counties,” says Maylam. “Weather and disease are heavy influencers of cucurbits - courgette, marrow and squash - so we have always made sure we have a good regional sourcing plan. Kent, Sussex and Hampshire all escaped the worst of the floods and have reported reasonable yields, so our strategy has proven its worth.”
Events such as Spalding’s annual Pumpkin Festival, which will take place this year on October 12, have also upped the vegetable’s popularity. The event is in its sixth year and attracts more than 10,000 people. David Bowman Ltd supports the festival by giving pumpkins to schools for pupils to take part in jack o’lantern competitions.
But growers maintain that their relationship with the retail industry must change if they are to survive seasons like this year. “Supermarkets cannot get their heads around the fact that prices are expensive and I have had shocked reactions to estimated prices so far,” says Bowman. “We are trying to push the price up, as production costs have massively increased over the last five years. It has come to the stage when high volume is not going to make up for the expense. I think this will turn pumpkin growers to different crops. It would be better to sit on a harvester all day and know you are going to get a good price for corn.”
Thompson also feels that supermarkets could show more understanding for the industry. “Because it has been a bit of a cold season, we are going to leave the plants on the ground as long as possible. Retailers have been sympathetic as, with squash, everyone is in the same boat,” says Thompson. “But although the growers are the ones that have revolutionised the job, the wage has hardly gone up. We are getting half as much money as we received for crops eight years ago.”
It seems that growers are definitely feeling underappreciated; businesses have had to become more efficient, as well as contend with rising labour and fuel costs. “If pumpkins are grown on scale and professionally, there is a good market for them, which is growing year on year,” says Whitworth. “But labour is always an issue; labour costs go up, as do packaging and haulage, yet retailers are always looking for as good a cost price as they can get in order to retail aggressively.”
Despite its problems, the squash industry is committed to new varieties and innovation. New cultivars of squash, such as the Acorn and Baby Acorn, are becoming increasingly popular with consumers in the UK, and a new market is opening up. Growers’ trials are constantly looking for new varieties that will bring consistency in size, full colour, resilience and quality. “We have a trial plot every year, and this year we have imported seeds from South Africa,” says Thompson. “We will try to provide a larger mix of varieties next year, to further our growth in this sector of the market.”
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