diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py
index 78f70baf2e7..593c0f25960 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ascent/package.py
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ def hostconfig(self):
         #######################
         c_compiler = env["SPACK_CC"]
         cpp_compiler = env["SPACK_CXX"]
+        f_compiler = env["SPACK_FC"]
 
         #######################################################################
         # Directly fetch the names of the actual compilers to create a
@@ -354,6 +355,8 @@ def hostconfig(self):
         cfg.write("# fortran compiler used by spack\n")
         if "+fortran" in spec:
             cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("ENABLE_FORTRAN", "ON"))
+            cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER",
+                                        f_compiler))
         else:
             cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("ENABLE_FORTRAN", "OFF"))
 
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/conduit/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/conduit/package.py
index b4a8d52a649..dc824b8c92b 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/conduit/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/conduit/package.py
@@ -337,6 +337,8 @@ def hostconfig(self):
         cfg.write("# fortran compiler used by spack\n")
         if "+fortran" in spec:
             cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("ENABLE_FORTRAN", "ON"))
+            cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER",
+                                        f_compiler))
         else:
             cfg.write(cmake_cache_entry("ENABLE_FORTRAN", "OFF"))