Farmers Anticipate A Bumper Pumpkin Crop

The devastating drought that hurt many crops was gentler on pumpkins. Pumpkins are actually one of the few crops that do pretty well in drought conditions. The rind of a pumpkin is incredibly susceptible to diseases that come from too much water. The lack of precipitation hasn’t been too bad for the pumpkin crop. And by using irrigation, most farmers are able to control when and how much water gets put on the crop and so that’s led to overall good quality.

Illinois is the largest producer of processing pumpkins. The top producing ornamental states are California, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.