Pumpkin patch owner sees lower yields due to summer drought, demand increases

PEORIA (25News Now) - Some farmers in the “Pumpkin Capital of the World” saw fewer pumpkins while harvesting and the drought could be to blame.

Nic Roth owns Roth Pumpkin Patch, Inc. in Morton.

Roth said he still has plenty of pumpkins, but not like in previous years because of the drought.

He claims other farmers he knows described a decrease in the numbers they harvested this fall.

Roth says while his prices won’t go up, demand is up for his decorative pumpkins.

“We’ve had years before where the ground is just littered with pumpkins. When we planted our pumpkins, we were just waiting for that rain to get those seeds to emerge,” Roth said.

“Finally, there was enough ground moisture that they slowly did come up,” the owner said.

Roth said farmers wholesale some of their products to each other, but he didn’t do that this year because of rising demand.

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