Schreimer Pumpkin Harvest Is "Almost Ideal"

The owner of Schreimer Farms in Otterburne says the pumpkin harvest is moving along with almost ideal weather.

Trevor Schreimer is the Owner and Operator of Schreimer Farms and Precision Produce. He says they grow many different varieties of squash and pumpkins and the harvest has been going smoothly.

“Well our pumpkin harvest is moving along really well. The weather has been really good, a few days ago we had a little bit of a frost, but it didn't do any damage so that was good. The fall harvest has been really nice, almost an ideal situation.”

Schreimer says they typically grow between half a million and one million pumpkins every year. He notes the crop this year is not quite as good as they would have liked because one of their fields received to much rain in July, but the field near their home facility has done very well.

Schreimer says even though the process of growing pumpkins is a lot of work he finds it interesting because it is unique. He notes the harvest is particularity labour intensive.

“The field is just quite literally littered orange with pumpkins. Typically what we do is we windrow the pumpkins into rows and we drive trailers in between the rows and then guys will be tossing pumpkins from ground to the trailer itself and put them into bins.”

Schreimer says he has a few local people working for him during harvest but a good chunk of the work is done by seasonal workers from Mexico. He adds it can be hard to find people from Manitoba to do the really hard physical work.

“I have had some of these people with me for 15 years. That makes me feel really good in the sense that I have given these people a chance to better their lives in the country that they live in. Truth be told they are very poor in their country and this gives them a chance to get above that economic hurdle and give their kids a new lease on life.”

He adds Schreimer farms is arguably the largest pumpkin producer in Manitoba and supplies both Co-op and Sobeys. He adds this has been a good season and there have been a lot of blessings along the way.