Pumpkins for Profit

[ProjectKing]

Anyone growing pumpkins for profit?

Curious about what varieties you grow and what you market is. Also rough profit per acre, etc would be great!

Thank you for any advice.

 

[smstonypoint]

Check Pumpkin Production ? Ag Alternatives ? Penn State Extension for sample enterprise budgets for pumpkins grown on plastic and via no-till.

My impression is that pumpkin markets are very localized unless you are producing on a commercial scale. You will need access to a suitable market and marketing skills.


Steve

 

[ProjectKing]

Check Pumpkin Production ? Ag Alternatives ? Penn State Extension for sample enterprise budgets for pumpkins grown on plastic and via no-till. my impression is that pumpkin markets are very localized unless you are producing on a commercial scale. You will need access to a suitable market and marketing skills. Steve

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out.

 

[davepg1]

We grew and sold quite a few pumpkins last season early, but we also have a large Amish community in this area who under-cut our prices very quickly and made that crop pretty much unprofitable to do next season. We were growing the Connecticut Field variety.

 

[nybirdman]

We have a friend that does well with odd ball type gourds ,white pumpkins ect.Too many growers of the "normal" type.

 

[DFB]

Pumpkin prices are sure aren't what they used to be. Dog eat dog world.

Pretty easy to grow with a fairly minimal cost outlay if your already in the business so lots do it. Really enhances the Agri-tourism aspect of on farm sales Funky gourds and the white pumpkins are real popular now.

Proper handling, harvest and storage are critical to keeping them in good shape for that very small window of sales opportunity.

Unless your market comes direct to you (retail or wholesale) you have to also consider transportation costs as part of getting your crop to them @ places like Farmers markets.

By choosing a semi bush and/or semi vine variety you can get more plants per acre as opposed to large vine types and that can translate into more harvestable pumpkins all depending on the size you are after

Overall growing pumpkins can be fun.

Happy faces!

 

[JMER817]

You can grow all the pumpkins you want. Very easy. Problem is finding a buyer.

 

[MossRoad]

There's quite a few commercial pumpkin growers around here. They sell to canneries. But I'm still amazed that in the fall, after all the leave die off the vines, how many pumpkins (and watermelons, cucumbers, squash, pickles and pretty much every type of vine produce) are left in the fields to rot. Not economical to harvest them, but think of the food pantries that could use them. There was one guy that donated several semi loads of melons to a food pantry this year. Thousands and thousands of melons. They were begging people to come and get them.

 

[GLyford]

Harvest and transport of any crop is always an issue. When my Dad passed, my Mom was stuck with about a half acre each of potatoes and onions, and 50 trees worth of apples.

All the charitable organizations were the same: we will take them if they show up on our doorstep, but that is as far as we will go. And I understand, spending money on field labor just wasn't in the budget for them, nor was transport.

She had no-one she could turn to that she could trust for labor, so even giving them away didn't happen, other than one elderly couple who came out and picked for a day for their church. My brother and sister and I took all we could foreseeably use, and rest was left to rot. We couldn't even give them away without spending money to do so.

Dad would have been working all fall to harvest, store, and sell it on a small roadside cart. He would manage the display to keep several varieties of stock on hand at all times. He did it mostly as way to talk to people, but it gave him a little spending money, certainly not a living if he didn't already have his retirement.

So I can completely understand the whole not-sold-left-to-rot thing, and the food pantries being swamped at only a small portion of a harvest, as opposed to something like canned goods that can be kept indefinitely. Giving field produce away is harder than it looks.

All this to say, marketing and managing sales is hard work, at any level be it wholesale, tourist farm experience (selling entertainment not just produce) or small roadside stand. If you have a good location for retail, look into all the other stuff that could be done at the same time: food sales (cocoa/coffee/cider/baked goods/grille), hay rides, mazes, etc. Maybe even Halloween stuff since that is all part and parcel of the prime pumpkin season. Make it worth people's time to show up, have attractive and clean spaces with ample parking and plenty of staff to have on hand. Now you're also talking managing staff, food service permits and inspections, liability for the general public on your property, etc. etc. You can build up to it, of course, but if it looks like the direction you want to go have a game plan for each stage and know what the costs and trade-offs are. Think about partnering with other businesses, a local roadside barbecue trailer moved at the end of the fall season onto a fresh cut christmas tree farm for a couple of weeks so they could both benefit. Look for opportunities like that. Know where the market you would like to draw in is now, what it would take to get them to you (advertising, other nearby attractions, etc.), and your competitors in the area.

If you have a local co-operative extension service, farm co-op, or business association don't be afraid to pick their brain. This is what they live for. Let them help you, and take notes.

Even just wholesale sales will take time and management. A guy I worked for growing up would do acorn squash, and would have a truckload of crates handpacked every week, whatever he and his wife could do working pretty much flat out. They still had to manage quality of what was packed, have the harvest gathered into their packing area (the part I helped with), have an existing market (truck was a wholesaler who picked up for delivery to the weekly produce market in Boston, an hour away).

When the local pickle plant shut down, his regular summer cucumber and fall cabbage harvests stopped cold, it wasn't economical for him to ship to the other factory several states away, but it worked while they were open. Even then he had little capital tied up, he kept is 40-year-old farm truck running, his old tractors and equipment. He said when he started in the 50's, cabbage was $40 a ton. In the 80's when he stopped, it was $39 a ton. Know what all your costs are and where all the break even points are. Look at your labor pool availability and how much they can handle, and have a back-up plan for contingencies. And worry about the weather.

No matter how you slice it, making money at it will be a business. They say to make money at a business, you only need to work half days, and doesn't much matter which of those 12 hours every day you work...

 

[DFB]

And they say houses are money pits :laughing:

The business I'm with just had to invest in a new UV treatment for commercial cider sales.

Sunk a ton of money into old system prior to that.

And had to buy a refrigerator van to make cold deliveries now

Two refrigeration compressors had to be replaced within 6 months of each other since last winter.

Have to pay a fee for the required GAP inspections to keep the commercial accounts in good standing.

(There are some available state subsidized rebate programs for small farms though.)

Huge amount of increased record keeping now for traceability/liability.

Had to bring packing house into new compliance with all washable and disinfectable surfaces ( FRP, Azek lumber, commercial tile etc.)

Employment wages have been increased by state law.

Overall farmer market fees have increased and now require a liability insurance, and permits and local licensing to conduct certain business ventures.

Have to pay quarterly estimated sales on my out of state marketing sales.

Pesticide prices, fertilizer and greenhouse materials continue to increase annually.

Installed a code required commercial ventalation hood and Ansul fire suppression system to make donuts, was more than twice as much than the donut machine cost.

Bakery license

BOH approved kitchen space

3 bay sink
Commercial hot water heater
Cast iron DWV

Truck shipping on some packaging items has become so expensive we actually go on road trips to pick up certain items now.

Old delivery van failed to pass state inspection this season. (had frame problems)

Bought new delivery van.

Scrapped '99 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup truck this season. (Thoroughly killed that hauling and towing)

Bought used Ford dually diesel dump truck

Repaired dump truck numerous times :laughing:

3K repair job on one JD tractor this Spring (new hydraulic pump)

May be the last year for greenhouse tomatoes (3 houses worth) the price of peat mixture material is thru the roof

Got state grant towards new farm store building.

Finished building so far has cost 3x as much as grant

Still not done!


I just never ends, sourcing the specific raw material to create holiday items like wreaths is becoming cost prohibitive and more difficult to obtain. Don't know how long that is going to continue.

Picked up huge out town commercial apple account Yea!

Have to make weekly palletized delivery now to customer specification..
Box truck broke down 2 week wait on part
Needed to rent truck.

Had to replace the floor of box on old delivery truck last season. (that rotted away transporting wet greenhouse products over time)

Can source cabbage, pumpkin, onion, and potatoes so cheap its really not worth growing.

Currently have invested heavily in small fruit strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and grape production.

Very labor intensive. Lots of field infrastructure involved the Blueberry raspberry and grape, strawberries are inside greenhouse structures.

Plasticulture for other garden crops.

Gladious by direct planting, weeding is seriously labor intensive.

Greenhouse and tunnel plastics have to be replaced on a rotating basis.


They say the average age of US farmer is something like 55 except for a few temp hires during harvest season and a fairly steady Central American crew of 4 fellows, nobody but one other is much younger than that.