Heatwave Shrinks Swiss Pumpkins

A master pumpkin grower said this year's recent warm weather in Switzerland made his pumpkins smaller and ruined his chances of breaking another world record this year

According to The Local, a Zurich farmer named Ben Meier has won the Swiss pumpkin growing contest every year for the past six years. This year he took it easily, but said he was disappointed because this year's entry was quite a bit smaller than usual, even though it weighed 1,654.6 pounds. Last year Meier's prize pumpkin weighed 2,324 pounds and set a world record.

Meier was hoping to beat his own record this year, but said recent warm weather left him with just a comparatively miniature pumpkin to enter in the contest.

"Of course I was a little disappointed," Meier said. "On the other hand I was also glad that it was little quieter this year ...  and the hype was not so great."

Meier still won easily ahead of a second-place pumpkin that weighed in at 1,150 pounds.

While the warm weather was not great for growing enormous pumpkins, it did help out some other farmers. This year Swiss records were set for biggest carrot, cucumber, and sunflower.