BOWEN may be best known for its mangoes, but if you're cutting into a Halloween pumpkin this week, chances are it was grown in North Queensland.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Stackelroth Farms and their two partners in the Burdekin and Broome are the nation's largest supplier of Halloween pumpkins, this year turning out a whopping 570 tonnes.
Bowen growers Belinda Williams and Michelle O'Regan turned out about 340 tonnes this year during their harvest, which starts in the first week of September, and takes about four weeks.
They have been growing Halloween pumpkins on their Delta property for more than 20 years and have been supplying to major supermarket chains for the past 18 years.
Ms Williams said cooler weather during winter had slowed production slightly.
"It was a bit more of a challenge, but we hit our delivery dates and in the long term it all worked out," she said.
Community spirit is never far away with a truckload of pumpkins donated to the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane for their annual Halloween party.
