Suffolk farm grew just 50 pumpkins instead of 10,000 while drought leaves Britain facing a Halloween shortage

Liz Paterson and Andrew King of Ruffins Farm in Bury St Edmunds chose to give their water to 500 breeding ewes rather than their pumpkin patch. The Met Office declared this summer the warmest in the UK since records began. Data suggests 2026 could be England's worst harvest on record. Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson says families should question their 'obsession with giant carving pumpkins'.

At Picking Patch in the New Forest, pumpkins came out 50 to 60 per cent smaller.

Ms Paterson fears El Niño will bring another drought next year.

Some 24 million pumpkins are sold in the UK each year.