Britain faces pumpkin shortage for Halloween

The heatwave, the drought, the cost-of-living crisis and now a shortage of pumpkins, are all part of a list of things that are troubling British citizens.

Experts are now predicting that the country may face a pumpkin shortage at Halloween as the harvest this year has been badly affected by poor weather. The shortage may also lead to an increase in pumpkin prices, with some of the farms already running out of stock.

"The quality of the pumpkin is good - the skin finish is good, they're a really good orange. But the drought had a knock-on impact on yield. You just haven't got the volume there," Guy French, who runs Foxes Farm Produce in Essex, told The Telegraph.

He added that a steep rise in diesel prices and an increase in fertiliser costs due to the war in Ukraine have only added to their woes, and that they have no option but to sell their harvest at a higher price.

"We are selling at a higher price, but the main factor for that is our input costs. We always say to customers, if you think the price of filling up your car with diesel has doubled, think of what it does for a tractor," he added.

The UK saw some of its warmest months this year. The heatwave caused fruits and vegetables to die, and the drought only made the situation worse for farmers. The UK officially entered a state of drought earlier this month.

Since Britain is not used to such high temperatures, the crop yield is expected to suffer. Harvests of crops such as onions, sugar beets, apples, and hops are expected to fall by 10–50%, per the UK's Environmental Agency.

The potato harvest is also expected to be affected by the drought. "The critical development period for potatoes is August, and that crop is very water dependent. We could expect production to fall, with some growers reporting a decline of up to 40% for potatoes," Alice Witchalls, an analyst at market research company Mintec, told CNBC.