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              <span class="preheader" style="color: transparent; display: none; height: 0; max-height: 0; max-width: 0; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; mso-hide: all; visibility: hidden; width: 0;">
               How lucrative is the pumpkin business? We talked to farmers, patch operators, and industry experts to find out. by Zachary Crockett.
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                <a style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 100%; text-decoration: none;">
                 The Hustle
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                Issue #182
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                 <img alt="The Hustle, Sunday, October 31, 2021" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-header_20211029215955.gif/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; display: block;" width="600"/>
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                Sunday, October 31, 2021
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            <h2 style="font-size: 30px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 25px;">
             <strong>
              The economics of pumpkin patches
             </strong>
            </h2>
            <p style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 120%; padding-bottom: 10px; font-style: italic; color: #737373; margin: 0;">
             How lucrative is the pumpkin business? We talked to farmers, patch operators, and industry experts to find out.
            </p>
            <p style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 120%; padding-bottom: 24px; margin: 0;">
             <strong>
              BY
              <a style="color: #D62829; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">
               Juliet Bennett Rylah
              </a>
             </strong>
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             There’s an
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               old folktale
              </u>
             </a>
             about Jack of the Lantern, an Irishman who tricked the devil twice.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Upon his death, he was barred from both heaven and hell. Doomed to wander the earth for all eternity, a lit coal in a hollowed-out turnip provided his only light.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             As an homage to old Jack, Irish and Scottish children would make their own lanterns by carving faces into turnips. In the 1800s, the
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               tradition
              </u>
             </a>
             made its way to America, where celebrants found something much easier to carve than a tough root vegetable: the pumpkin.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Flash forward a few centuries, and pumpkins are a booming business.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Americans are expected to
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               spend
              </u>
             </a>
             a record
             <strong>
              $10B+
             </strong>
             on Halloween items in 2021, up from $8B last year — and pumpkins are a big player: Among the 65% of Americans celebrating Halloween this year, 44% (
             <strong>
              ~94m people
             </strong>
             ) plan to carve one.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             While pumpkins can readily be found at most grocery stores, many folks turn to a patch to procure their autumnal canvas.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             What are the economics of these orange orbs? And how do pumpkin patches — a largely seasonal enterprise — make money year-round?
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             To find out, we talked to pumpkin farmers, experts, and patch owners around the country.
            </p>
            <h4 style="font-size: 17px; height: 100%; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 22px; padding-top: 8px; margin: 0px;">
             <strong>
              From ground to gourd
             </strong>
            </h4>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             For a pumpkin farmer, the harvest begins with
             <strong>
              variety selection
             </strong>
             — the process of choosing from the hundreds of seeds available each year.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Traditional
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               jack-o’-lanterns
              </u>
             </a>
             are in high demand closer to Halloween. But earlier in the season, customers want decorative pumpkins, like the flat, stackable
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               Cinderella
              </u>
             </a>
             or the warty
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               Marina di Chioggia
              </u>
             </a>
             .
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="pumpkin varietals" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-VARIETIES_20211029174139.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             The Hustle
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             “People have gravitated toward the odd stuff over the years: warts, odd shapes, different colors,” says
             <strong>
              Mark Craven
             </strong>
             (no relation to Wes — we asked) of
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               Craven Farm
              </u>
             </a>
             in Snohomish, Washington. “You plant a little bit of everything because you never know what’s going to be hot that year.”
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Many growers choose hybrid seeds, a cross between disease-resistant pumpkins and pumpkins that look nice.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             These seeds can cost
             <strong>
              3-8x
             </strong>
             more than the standard fare, but improve a farmer’s yield by as much as
             <strong>
              30%-50%
             </strong>
             . For Craven, hybrids are
             <strong>
              ~$100/1k seeds
             </strong>
             , but are worth every penny for their color, size, and stem.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Once planted, pumpkins have to contend with myriad natural enemies: insects, weeds, grazing deer, mildew, and, perhaps their biggest threat, weather.
            </p>
            <ul style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 12px; margin: 0;">
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              If it gets too
              <strong>
               hot
              </strong>
              , pumpkins can show up in August — way too early for commercial markets.
             </li>
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              If it gets too
              <strong>
               cold
              </strong>
              , pumpkins will still be green in October.
             </li>
            </ul>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             If there’s
             <strong>
              not enough rain
             </strong>
             , pumpkins may fail to germinate. If there’s
             <strong>
              too much rain
             </strong>
             , pumpkins can rot in the soil.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Or they can just float away:
            </p>
            <ul style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 12px; margin: 0;">
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              The
              <strong>
               Great Pumpkin Flood of 1786
              </strong>
              was caused by heavy rains that
              <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none;">
               <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
                overflowed
               </u>
              </a>
              the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, sweeping unharvested crops downstream.
             </li>
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              In
              <strong>
               1903
              </strong>
              , it happened again along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania and New York. In a seasonally appropriate move, the water also
              <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none;">
               <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
                swept away
               </u>
              </a>
              a local undertaker’s hearse, home, and mortuary.
             </li>
            </ul>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="flooded pumpkin patch" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-flood_20211029174205.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             A flooded pumpkin patch in New Jersey (Wikimedia Commons, via Jackie/Flickr)
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             <strong>
              Stephen Reiners
             </strong>
             , a horticulture professor at Cornell AgriTech in New York who works with growers large and small, tells
             <em>
              The Hustle
             </em>
             that inconsistent weather can also result in fewer bees — a critical contributor to pumpkin production.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             “Male flowers produce the pollen, female flowers produce the fruit, but the bees need to transport it,” he explains. Some growers rent beehives for that purpose, which range from
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               $45-$200
              </u>
             </a>
             per hive.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             All in, including expenses like seeds fertilizer, labor, marketing, and insurance, Reiners says the typical
             <strong>
              overhead
             </strong>
             incurred by a pumpkin farmer might amount to
             <strong>
              $3k-$4.5k per acre
             </strong>
             .
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             But if pumpkins manage to survive this minefield of natural elements, the harvest can be well worth it.
            </p>
            <h4 style="font-size: 17px; height: 100%; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 22px; padding-top: 8px; margin: 0px;">
             <strong>
              How much is a pumpkin worth?
             </strong>
            </h4>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             In 2020, the US
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               produced
              </u>
             </a>
             <strong>
              ~770 tons
             </strong>
             of pumpkins, sold either: 1) directly
             <strong>
             </strong>
             to agritourists who visit patches, or 2) wholesale
             <strong>
             </strong>
             to urban lots and grocery chains.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             On the
             <strong>
              direct
             </strong>
             sales side, pumpkin patches tend to sell by the pound.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Among a sample of 11 farms across the US
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               compiled
              </u>
             </a>
             by
             <em>
              The Hustle
             </em>
             , the
             <strong>
              average per-pound rate was $0.51
             </strong>
             — right around $4 for an 8-pound pumpkin.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             The economics of these patches might break down like so:
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="economics of a pumpkin patch" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-economics_20211029174230.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             The Hustle
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             While there are a few farms that run enormous operations, most pumpkin patches
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               range
              </u>
             </a>
             from
             <strong>
              2 to 40 acres
             </strong>
             — enough to yield roughly $12k to $240k in net profit at the higher bounds of our estimates.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             The
             <strong>
              wholesale
             </strong>
             economics are a little less enticing.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             For example, Illinois — which consistently produces
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               the most pumpkins
              </u>
             </a>
             by acreage and weight — credits
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               ~80%
              </u>
             </a>
             of its output to sugar pumpkins (used for pie filling), which are sold wholesale to processors.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Illinois producers usually get
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <strong>
              </strong>
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               <strong>
                $3-$4
               </strong>
              </u>
             </a>
             <strong>
              per 100 pounds
             </strong>
             , while other states fluctuate from
             <strong>
              $11 to $26.50
             </strong>
             .
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Craven no longer sells pumpkins in bulk, but estimates he could get
             <strong>
              $0.07-$0.10 per pound
             </strong>
             wholesale — more than 10x less than the average for patch-bought pumpkins.
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="direct to consumer vs wholesale pmupkins" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-WHOLESALE_20211029174300.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             The Hustle
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Craven’s grandparents began farming dairy and berries in 1949. He added pumpkins in 1983, which ultimately took over the bulk of his crop production. Today, he grows
             <strong>
              40 acres
             </strong>
             of pumpkins in a given year, which are priced by size up to $30 for a 50-60 pounder.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             He does well for himself — but pumpkin sales are only one part of the equation.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             On the weekends, a $22 pass to Craven Farm includes unlimited access to a 15-acre corn maze, hayrides, and minigolf. Other revenue streams include food and coffee stands, and a gift shop.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Craven gets about 20-30k visitors per weekend, often filling up 6 acres of parking — though foot traffic fluctuates depending on the weather and Seahawks games.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Last year, with families desperate for an outdoor activity amid shutdowns, Craven had so many visitors that he ran out of pumpkins for the first time in 38 years.
            </p>
            <h4 style="font-size: 17px; height: 100%; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 22px; padding-top: 8px; margin: 0px;">
             <strong>
              Bringing the farm to the city
             </strong>
            </h4>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             <strong>
              Urban patches
             </strong>
             — which start with an empty lot in the middle of a dense city — bring the farm closer to home for cosmopolites.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             <strong>
              Brandon Helfer
             </strong>
             , the co-owner of
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               Mr. Jack O’Lanterns
              </u>
             </a>
             Pumpkin Patch, which has a dozen locations in urban areas across California and Florida,  buys pumpkins by the semitruckload from farms across the US.
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="Brandon Helfner with his crop" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-helfer_20211029174349.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             Brandon Helfner with part of a season’s crop at one of his Mr. Jack O’Lanterns locations (via Jack O’Lanterns)
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             He estimates he pays
             <strong>
              $7k-10k per semi
             </strong>
             . It’s hard to estimate how many pumpkins will be in each load. A truck can generally fit ~56 bins, and each bin could fit 18-22 jumbos, 40-55 jacks, or 1k mini pumpkins the size of a donut — but you won’t know in advance.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             “We’ll take on a new lot with the mindset that we’re going to lose money the first year,” Helfer said, referring to upfront costs like a tent, lights, marketing, and maybe a $7.5k bounce house.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             <strong>
              Lyra Marble
             </strong>
             first got into pumpkins on her mother’s California farm in 1987. Today, she runs
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               Mr. Bones
              </u>
             </a>
             , a 4-acre pumpkin patch in the greater Los Angeles area that carts in around 8 semi-loads of pumpkins per year.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             “It can be very profitable or I wouldn’t still do it, but it’s also challenging because your entire income is reliant on a few weekends a year,” Marble said.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             “A lot of people think I only have to work 2 months out of the year, but it's intense and stressful to put a show together so quickly that’s dependent on nature and the goodwill of long-term customers.”
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="Lyra Marble and her pumpkin house" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-mrbones_20211029174425.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             Lyra Marble, the proprietor of Mr. Bones pumpkin patch in Culver City, poses in front of one of her many attractions: a house made out of pumpkins (Pascal Shirley via Mr. Bones)
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Like agritourism operations, urban patches must also put on a show or lose customers to grocery stores:
            </p>
            <ul style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 12px; margin: 0;">
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              At Mr. Bones, visitors will find a village of adorable houses made of pumpkins, inflatables, kiddie straw mazes, and spider-themed bounce houses Marble designed herself. (The photo opps bring in LA celebrities — and
              <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none;">
               <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
                this dog
               </u>
              </a>
              .)
             </li>
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              At Mr. Jack O’ Lanterns, kids love the unique slate of activities, including pumpkin bowling, obstacle courses, animal interactions, and pumpkin decorating stations.
             </li>
            </ul>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Revenue comes from admission and/or activity tickets, plus pumpkin sales. But the key to success, according to both Marble and Helfer, is to be committed to it for the long haul. Attracting and retaining regulars is critical to recouping upfront costs.
            </p>
            <h4 style="font-size: 17px; height: 100%; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 22px; padding-top: 8px; margin: 0px;">
             <strong>
              And lastly, what about those really big pumpkins?
             </strong>
            </h4>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Annual biggest pumpkin contests regularly crown winners that weigh in at over a ton — like
             <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-fill-color: #d62829;">
              <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
               this 2.7k-pound beast
              </u>
             </a>
             recently presented by an Italian farmer.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             A big pumpkin comes with bragging rights and often a cash prize:
            </p>
            <ul style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 12px; margin: 0;">
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              A Minnesota man won
              <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none;">
               <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
                $16.4k
               </u>
              </a>
              for his 2,350-pound pumpkin ($7/pound) in 2020 at The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California. .
             </li>
             <li style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0 0 0 15px; padding: 0px;">
              This year, a Washington farmer won
              <a style="color: #d62829; text-decoration: none;">
               <u style="color: #d62829; underline: none; text-decoration: none;">
                $19.7k
               </u>
              </a>
              for his 2,191-pound behemoth ($9/pound). Had he broken the 2.7k-pound record, he’d have won $30k.
             </li>
            </ul>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td align="center" style="text-align: center;">
            <img alt="Mark Craven with a large pumpkin" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com%252Ffinal_size-craven_20211029174505.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0aGRhaWx5LnMzLiJ9:1mh8L0:ak-s3Khh0yoG_-b4bkniikfzk6xmG2J2E1IKRPOM3Y8" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto; padding-top: 10px;" width="600"/>
            <p align="left" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #5f696c; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; text-align: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 5px 20px;">
             Mark Craven, of Craven Farm in Snohomish, Washington, with an absolute unit of a pumpkin (via Craven Farm)
            </p>
           </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
           <td class="h2020 ignore-defaults" style="padding: 0px 10px;">
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             According to experts we spoke with, a winning pumpkin’s seeds can also fetch
             <strong>
              $3-$5 each
             </strong>
             — around 30x to 50x more than your mere mortal pumpkin seed.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             A giant pumpkin contains 2k-5k seeds, meaning it can yield
             <strong>
              $6k-$26k
             </strong>
             in profit for its owner.
            </p>
            <p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 140%; margin: 5px 0px 10px;">
             Jack of the Lantern would be proud... but he probably wouldn’t be able to carry it.
            </p>
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