The pumpkin crop in North Rhine-Westphalia is likely to be relatively weak this season. “We expect medium yields and varieties with slight downward outliers,” Jan Malte Vichern, spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture, said when asked by the German news agency DPA. The reason for this is heavy rainfall in summer.
Planting started late due to bad weather. Wetness during fruit set sometimes leads to rotting. “A lot of pumpkins are spoilt because of that,” Whitchern said.
However, the remaining squash grew well and became nice and thick. Regarding quality, it remains to be seen how far moisture-loving fungi have spread, for example.
The area under pumpkins has decreased again recently. In 2024, farmers would have grown pumpkins on 780 hectares; In 2022, there were just under 1,000 hectares.
