As the irrigation costs soar and are expected to double by the 2040s, growing pumpkins will become a challenge, the American Pumpkin Growers Association (APGA) stated in the Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 release. Droughts in the main farming districts will substantially decrease the average pumpkin diameter and possibly cause yearly $13-billion losses industrywide.
This year’s summer brought record-setting droughts dropping the river and stream flows to their historical lowest – a tendency predicted to worsen over the next 25 years. To reimburse for the climatic impact and meet the consumer demand for pumpkins and pumpkin products, the Association solicited for government subsidies for the industry. Assorted taxpayer groupings objected against wasteful spending when America’s debt forces it to skimp on national defense and bottomline social services.
Opinions on the “pumpkin issue” diversified. Some taxpayers insisted on the need to lower the farming subsidies and focus on the border defense, social facilities, and healthcare instead. “I’m not saying we should totally quit subsidizing farmers but the money often gets in the wrong hands,” a concerned American University student said, “But social institutions, hospitals, and schools are in greater need of the subsidies that end up in the hands of corporate farmers anyway. Small farmers could do just as well with a loaning system.”
Others emphasized the country’s dependence on import products and maintained that adding farm foods to the list would only exacerbate the situation: “The subsidies can seem like a lot of money but a consistent food supply is worth it.”
As the opinions diverged, the situation remained uncertain for the all-American favorite, as well as the 2.3 million people the pumpkin industry currently employs.