‘There’s something strange in the pumpkin fields’: Drought and heat frightening farmers

FREDERICTON — The pumpkin patches on a number of Canadian farms are starting to look a bit frightening across the country, but not in a way that makes them ready for Halloween.

“It’s sure been a spooky season,” said Greg MacKenzie, the owner of Mackenzie Produce in Stratford, P.E.I.

He said his own farm has a reduced yield of pumpkins this year. A number of vines have died off and the jumbo-sized orange fruit does not weigh as much as it should, he said.

Most of them might be too small to harvest this year, he added, which could cut into how much he is able to export to the United States.

“Normally we count on September rains to kind of save us,” MacKenzie said. “If we don’t see something in the next couple weeks, it’s going to be pretty hard to make it up.”

MacKenzie isn’t alone. Across Canada, some farmers have shared similar stories with The Canadian Press, explaining that drought and extreme heat are cutting into the size and supply of pumpkins that are usually carved into jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween or frozen and canned for food.

“We’re watching very closely every week just to see how things are progressing,” Mackenzie said “It’s a fine line of, you know, treading water at this point, but with no water to tread.”

There were few regions spared from this season’s punishing drought.

The Canadian Drought Monitor for August said about 71 per cent of the country was classified as abnormally dry or moderate to extreme aridity, including 70 per cent of Canada’s farmland.

The unusual weather patterns could be a troubling sign of more problems in the future.

In a recent assessment of the latest scientific research, the Canadian Climate Institute notes that global warming is increasing the risk and severity of droughts in parts of the country that are already struggling to cope with water shortages.

Citing recent data from Statistics Canada, the institute also says droughts were a significant factor in driving a surge in crop insurance payments to farmers in recent years, as the payouts rose from $890 million in 2018 to $4.9 billion in 2024.

The severity of the drought in central Alberta has turned most of the grass and greenery a muddy shade of brown, Mike Williams of Ponoka, Alta., said.

He explained he began watering the parched soil on his farm to get it ready in May, a few weeks before he planted a crop of pumpkins and squash.

“I’ve been hauling water,” he said. “I hauled almost 300,000 litres of water ... since around May.”

While last year was mostly a writeoff, he said he is “feeling better” about the crop this year with some of the pumpkins weighing between 30 and 40 pounds.

Roy Phillips, owner of the Phillips’ Family Farm, in northwest London, who grows pumpkins, gourds and squash, said the season has delivered a mixed bag of weather, with rain in the first few months, followed by six weeks of dry weather. “Oh, it’s kind of weird, but it’s been a crazy season all year,” he said.

Because Phillips grows his crop on clay soil rather than sandy land, he said his farm retains water better than most others, which has helped his pumpkins.

“It’s not my best crop, but some stuff is really good,” he said. “The pumpkins are very good quality.”

He said he grows a variety of crops, including different types of squash and pumpkins, with a variety of colours and some have turned out well. But he also noted that the mixed weather patterns have reduced the number and size of his pumpkins.

Donna Warner of Warner Ranch and Pumpkin Farm in Niagara Falls, Ont., became emotional as she spoke about how difficult the season has been this year with heat and drought affecting her crop.

In the 30 years that Warner has been a pumpkin farmer, she said this year has been the worst ever. She said that the plants weren’t producing enough female flowers, even after they were irrigated.

“The plants were heat stressed,” she said. “Without female flowers, you don’t get a pumpkin... A plant won’t produce a female flower unless the conditions are right.”

While the quality is good, Warner said the yield is down about 70 per cent and the pumpkins are smaller. Her farm doesn’t have jumbo pumpkins this year.

She said she was out in the field on Wednesday afternoon and she “felt like throwing up” when she looked around.

“It’s so much money and so much work.”

Danny Dill, owner of Howard Dill Enterprises, in Windsor, N.S., said the high temperatures started up in June and didn’t let up all through.

“It’s been terrible. I mean, the worst,” he said. “We didn’t even really have any water to irrigate. We’ve been in an oven since the first of June.”

And it’s not just pumpkins that are affected but other crops too, including squash, he said. People are buying up squash in large quantities to freeze and store for the winter, he added.

Dill said he is waiting a few days to see if there will be any rain so the pumpkins can perhaps grow. But he’s not holding out hope.

“Honestly, you know, the last 10 years, I’ve never seen such dramatic shifts in the weather from one year to another,” he said. “Two years ago, we were flooded out. We just went 360 degrees from one extreme into the other. There is no normal growing season, or if there is, we may get one every maybe six years. Maybe.”

He paused.

Mother Nature has messed with the jack-o’-lanterns this year and they are more “sketchy” than spooky, Dill said with a chuckle. “Like Casper the Friendly Ghost.”

Then he riffed on the popular song from the ‘Ghostbusters’ movie: “There’s something strange in the pumpkin fields. Who you gonna call?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2025.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press