The same hot weather that devastated US corn crops this summer has been a boon for pumpkin growers, Bloomberg reports. In Illinois, the largest pumpkin producing state in the US, pumpkin production may be up 5%, economists say. Pumpkins aren’t as vulnerable to heat as some other crops.
That higher supply seems to be hitting prices, which were down about 3% from 2011, according the US Department of Agriculture. Digging deeper into pumpkin pricing, you can see that traditional jack-o-lantern type pumpkins are fetching wholesale prices about 4% higher than last year. However, specialty pumpkin supplies are pretty high at the wholesale level, sending prices for miniature versions of the holiday gourd down about 7%.