'Halloween is helping us keep farming'

Phil Le Maistre said he has seen the popularity of Halloween pick up over the last five years

A Jersey farmer has said the growing popularity of Halloween is helping his business "keep farming".

Phil Le Maistre from Master Farms said it has been "crazy" to see thousands of people turn up to the farm's Halloween-themed pumpkin patch event.

He said the event was an effort to diversify the farm's business and bring in income from sources outside selling traditional produce.

"Farming is tough, we're not making the money we used to from conventional farming," he said.

Mr Le Maistre said it has been "crazy" to see how many people have turned up to a Halloween-themed pumpkin patch event

Mr Le Maistre said: "It's a strange one, people are willing now to pay more for kind of like farm experiences or pumpkins.

"We're selling some of the pumpkins for £12, the really big ones, yet if you ask someone to pay more than £1 for cauliflower, they're like, 'ah, that's too expensive'."

He said the farm was trying to "make the most of that" and do things to "capitalise".

'Nearly as big as Christmas'

Mr Le Maistre said he has seen the popularity of Halloween increase over the last five years.

"We started back with honesty boxes, we just sold a few pumpkins in some bins and then gradually it's picked up," he said.

"I think it's just following on from the trend in America... it's nearly as big as Christmas now."

Mr Le Maistre added that the event was part of a wider effort to connect people in Jersey with their produce.

"There's less and less farmers now on the island, even in the UK, and people are kind of getting further and further away from where their crops are grown," he said.