“Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner and pumpkins are already showing up at roadside stands. Jack o’lanterns, decorative displays and pumpkin pies are the main destinies of most pumpkins in the United States. Elsewhere in the world, however, the pumpkin is nearly exclusively considered a food crop or animal feed.”

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

Maybe you have never thought about where all the flowers are grown  every year just in time for Valentine’s Day, the spatial extent of Christmas tree farms or how egg nog’s season production changes the diary industry.  If you have considered these issues, you are thinking about the geographic impact of seasonal activities.  Many of these traditions are rooted in a particular climatic/agricultural region that started from folk cultural traditions connected to that region.  As traditions have diffused, the use of pumpkins, Douglas Fir pine trees or other seasonal items have have moved beyond their ecological origins and jumped scales to become a larger global phenomenon.  In this Geography in the News article, Neal Lineback and Many Lineback Gritzner discuss the geographic impact and context of our pumpkin traditions.  

Tags: seasonal, food production, agriculture.

See on newswatch.nationalgeographic.com