00:00I love fall. I love pumpkin picking. I successfully have beautiful pumpkins and I was very thrilled
00:05with what I got. I bring this up because it's now time for the agriculture advantage. Yes,
00:11and if you throw the AccuWeather in there, we could say it's AAA time. I like that. All right,
00:16it's been a challenging growing season for many crops, from corn struggling with early rain and
00:22late season heat to dry fields for soybeans. Pumpkins are facing the same weather pressures.
00:29This week's AccuWeather Agriculture Advantage looks at how extreme conditions are impacting the fall
00:34pumpkin harvest. Joining us is Dr. Alan Walters, professor of vegetable science and breeding at
00:40Southern Illinois University. What a title there. Let's discuss this year brought heavy spring rains
00:46followed by summer heat and drought. How has that impacted pumpkin yields and quality across
00:52different regions? Well, overall, the pumpkin harvest is really good. The early rains was
00:59kind of beneficial in a way because pumpkins are planted a little bit later than a lot of other
01:04crops. And that kind of helped recharge the soil for the drought that was to come a little bit later.
01:11So the early rains were kind of beneficial. Not everybody had the same luck. Some people struggled
01:16to plant a little bit. But overall, the pumpkins look really good right now.
01:22Of course, like any crop, they can be vulnerable to the weather conditions. What makes pumpkins
01:29vulnerable when the weather conditions turn hot or dry?
01:34Pumpkins, like a lot of the other crops in the cucurbita ACA family, gourds and squash, they are
01:43vulnerable to a lot of similar weather that create problems in pumpkins. The heat is a major part of
01:53this because pumpkins don't sit well in extreme heat and the size is stunted during extreme heat events
02:04and too much water can flood the fields. So we have a lot of stuff that can happen if it occurs at the
02:12at the right time for the pumpkin production season.
02:19You'll have to say that that phrase again of cucurita ACA, the breed of pumpkin. Say that again?
02:25I'm not even going to try to say it.
02:27Cucurita ACA.
02:29That amazing. Anyway, beyond pumpkins. I love it. Do similar fall crops like squash and gourds. Oh,
02:36I love a gourd. Do they face the same kind of weather pressures?
02:40Yes, they're in the same plant family as I just repeated again for you. And they have a lot of
02:48the same problems with the heat set and drought conditions will have an effect on all those cute
02:56little pumpkins, as well as those gourds that we like to have so much during this time of the year.
03:04Of course, there's new technology. And I understand that you are breeding new heat tolerant pumpkin
03:09hybrids. How do these varieties handle extreme temperatures compared to the traditional ones?
03:18Well, we're working on developing pumpkins that have a little bit more heat tolerance to fruit set
03:24because during fruit set, it's very important to have a great pumpkin to set on that vine. And you
03:34see one of the ones that we have right now that's in our breeding program that has the heat set tolerance
03:41as well as the tolerance to develop a large size during heat events, which a lot of the ones that
03:50are on the market today does not have. How long does it take to develop a new
03:55heat resistant pumpkin variety? And what progress are you seeing? And could this research help other
04:02fall crops too? Well, it takes a long time. It takes about 8 to 12 years by the time we make crosses,
04:10by the time we kind of increase those lines, stabilize those lines, and then make the hybrids and do the
04:21evaluations. It takes a number of years to kind of get that pumpkin to where we want it to be,
04:27where it's stable. And we're kind of sure that the pumpkin will do well in a wide variety of different
04:34environments. And I see this is becoming something really important for a lot of other crops
04:38as well, because we have more and more extremities, especially in the summer with high heat. And
04:48there's a lot of other crops that really need heat tolerance in them as we kind of move on in future
04:55years, I think. Yeah, no, really fascinating and amazing work being done. We appreciate you sharing
05:01that. I mean, you look at, you know, you go pumpkin picking and don't realize how much science and
05:05research has been going in to keeping these pumpkins, whether they're on our front porch or
05:09eating them during the fall season. All right, Dr. Alan Walters, Professor of Vegetable Science and
05:14Breeding at Southern Illinois University. Thank you so much again for joining us.
05:19Thank you for having me. And go pumpkins!
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