High demand for pumpkins, with prices being a little higher

MARYLAND – It’s that time of the year again, where the leaves are falling, the temperatures dropping, and people are out pumpkin picking.

But, this pumpkin season may look a little different due to the pandemic.

“We have definitely noticed an increase in people buying pumpkins this year, which is awesome, that’s exciting that everyone wants to get in the holiday spirit,” Danielle Pohland, the owner of The Snowball Stand, said.

“People are really buying a lot of pumpkins this year, used to they come and get three four five six pumpkins and now they are buying a whole wagon load at a time,” Gaylon Adkins, with Adkins Farm Market, said.

We’re told by both The Snowball Stand and Adkins Farm Market with the high demand for pumpkins this year it’s great for business, but there are some challenges. One of those hurdles is the labor shortage.

“We are having a problem getting people to help me pick in the field and stuff like that, we just don’t have the people coming in to want to work,” Adkins said.

“The farmers are being affected by the, you know they don’t have very many of people working for them right now and they have such a high demand that everyone wants pumpkins this year, so a one-man show can only move so fast unfortunately but they are doing the best that they can,” Pohland said.

Another issue is the price of pumpkins.

“The prices are a little bit higher than usual, we have been doing this for three years so far and three years ago was much, a little bit cheaper than they are today, but we still try to keep all of our prices reasonable,” Pohland said.

The higher prices are impacting more than just customers.

“They are definitely impacting us just a little bit compared to big box stores we do have to charge a little bit more, unfortunately because we are a small business,” Pohland said.

But, despite these challenges, we’re told this season has been off to a great start and people should continue to support small businesses.