Pumpkins just don't like wet weather, and unfortunately that's what Mid-Missouri had at the start of the pumpkin-growing season.
"With all the rain in May and June, we couldn't get out and plant," said Jay Fischer, who farms in North Jefferson City. "I tried around June 20, but it wasn't until the Fourth of July that we were really able to get out and plant. Then just after that, we got more rain, and we tried to replant around July 15, but that's way too late."
Fischer said the area has probably 50 to 60 percent of a normal pumpkin-growing season's crop.
"We do have pumpkins out there, and they're good quality, but this has to be one of the roughest years I've had trying to raise pumpkins," he said. "Overall, the pumpkins are a little smaller than normal, but there are still some large ones - just not as many as in years past."
Fischer said they sell some of their crop to local grocery stores, but about 80 percent of what they raise is sold on their farm.
"When you don't have as many to sell, it just figures you're not going to be getting as good a return as you have in the past," he said. "We'll go until there's none left out there."
Fischer said the cost to grow pumpkins this year doubled compared to other years, and a lot of that was due to more spraying to keep fungus off the pumpkins due to the wet weather.
"A lot of other pumpkin farms in the state are out of pumpkins," he said. "We had some farms in the St. Louis area call us for some pumpkins because they didn't have any for their customers to buy. Even the Mennonite auction in Versailles called for pumpkins. The crop just wasn't good this year in Missouri."