Canada’s largest pumpkin patch is looking a little lean.

Pumpkin farmers in Norfolk County say a prolonged dry spell has led to fewer future jack-o’-lanterns in their fields, and the pumpkins that did sprout are smaller than in past years.

“It was a very tough year for growing pumpkins,” said Ryan Kukielka, who harvests 450 acres of carving and pie pumpkins — plus some fancy heirloom varieties — on a farm in Vanessa, southwest of Brantford.

“We received very little rain — less than two inches the whole growing season,” Kukielka told The Spectator.

He irrigated his fields to help make up the shortfall in rainwater, but the crop still took a hit.

An aerial view of the 2025 pumpkin harvest in Norfolk County in a field farmed by Vittoria-based multinational Scotlynn Sweetpac Growers

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