H-Town Pumpkin Patch owner Caleb Neri is used to competing with grocery giants like Sam's Club, Costco, and H-E-B for pumpkins.
"If there's a limited amount of a certain variety of pumpkins, they'll get dibs on it," he said.
In order to source pumpkins for the H-Town Pumpkin Patch, which he's owned for the last three years, Neri must place orders by September or early October.
This year, due to a drought, it's been more difficult than usual and he's had to buy pumpkins from his big box competitors.
"It's just more expensive, probably almost double," he said.
Over the summer, farmers across the state found themselves facing drought conditions that haveimpacted a number of crops, including pumpkins.
Areas around Lubbock, specifically Floyd County, saw moderate to severedrought conditionsnear the beginning of the pumpkin growing season. Floyd County, home of Floydada, is known as the Pumpkin Capital of Texas. According to the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension for Floyd County, pumpkin production was down between 30 to 40% due to drought.
Bernadette Woods Placky, the executive director of the nonprofit Talking Climate Collaborative, said the drought is a result of climate change.
Placky said increasing levels of heat in the Earth's atmosphere are "supercharging" the water cycle. While this is commonly associated with heavy rains and flooding, it can have the reverse effect.
"It also increases drought, because a warmer atmosphere sucks up more moisture out of the ground quicker," she said.
Placky said pumpkin production is being hit by both extremes. In Canada, they're rotting because of too much water, while Texas is producing fewer pumpkins than normal because of the drought.
Neri, the pumpkin patch owner, said this increase in heat levels also impacts the pumpkins that have already been pulled from the ground.
"They start getting a heat burn, and will start spoiling," Neri said. "We use them as decorations, but we also sell them, so we have to be able to keep up to be able to provide for our customers."
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