Pumpkin production down again at Yarnick's Farm after "too much rain"

This year was another down year for pumpkins at Yarnick's Farm in Indiana County.

Summer weather made for another challenging season for a farmer growing pumpkins in Indiana County. Dan Yarnick, owner of the farm, said he lost 40% to 50% of the pumpkin crop. This comes just a year after Yarnick said the farm faced its worst pumpkin season ever due to drought conditions. It stopped the farm from providing pumpkins to vendors and distributors it works with, leaving it with just enough for its market. 

"We had too much rain. Pumpkins don't like rain," Yarnick said on Friday.

It rained every other day, he said.  

"We lost a lot of our crop, a lot of our [pumpkins were] rotted, misformed, and just wasn't nice," Yarnick said. 

Still, he said the farm had a fair pumpkin season, saying it was better than the year before. That's not saying much compared to just two years ago when Yarnick's Farm grew 500 bins of pumpkins. This year, the farm grew just 100 bins, up from 60 last year. 

"It's better than nothing," Yarnick said. 

Yarnick's Farm was able to provide some pumpkins to a distributor this year, but not to a grocery store chain it works with. However, the farm plans to donate more than 100 pumpkins that didn't quite meet the market standard to a local YMCA, where they will be part of family fun. 

While the pumpkin crop may have been sluggish, the farm has seen growth in sales through other farm-grown products like its sweet corn, the farm said. 

"It's been a pretty good year, and we appreciate everyone who comes out and sees us," Dan Yarnick said.