Fen Farming Eyes Record Aldi Pumpkin Season Despite Dry Summer

Fen Farming is preparing to supply more than 500,000 pumpkins to Aldi this Halloween, after adapting its growing methods to cope with hot, dry conditions.

The family-run business near Wisbech, on the Cambridgeshire–Norfolk border, has supplied Aldi since 2014 and is now the retailer’s largest pumpkin supplier. Volumes have increased from 25,000 in the partnership’s first year to more than half a million this season.

The farm’s moisture-retaining silt soils have helped protect the crop during the dry summer. The business also rented irrigated fields and upgraded planting equipment to position seeds deeper in the soil, closer to moisture.

Growth in the pumpkin operation has supported investment of more than £750,000, including harvesting equipment and washing technology.

Stuart Gibson, sales manager at Fen Farming, said the weather had required the business to adapt its approach.

“If the rest of the season goes well, this could be our biggest year yet supplying Aldi,” he said.

The first-generation family farm has operated for almost 40 years, with family members managing its day-to-day activities across 800 acres of Fenland.