States Suffering from Drought Turn to Minn. Pumpkin Crops

Ask pumpkin grower Bert Bouwman about this year's crop and he's quick to answer, "They look very healthy. Very healthy."

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture says that while there are no pumpkin crop estimates, it's clear that this year's crop is big. According to the Department of Agriculture, pumpkins are planted in late May so they weren't effected by this year's late April frost that hurt the apple crop. And, they say, early rains helped give Minnesota pumpkins a strong start.

That's not the case is states to the south and out east. Gary Pahl says he's shipping some of his pumpkins out of state, "We've had three semi loads of pumpkins go out to Boston this year already."

Grower Bert Bouwman say he's shipping to Missouri, and that the challenge is to sell as many as possible to buyers but not be even one pumpkin short for local customers.

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