As the summer heat wanes, pumpkin varieties of all shapes and sizes start to appear on store shelves. Van Groningen & Sons Incorporated is gearing up for fall pumpkins, squash, and gourds, which can be seen in stores by the beginning of September.
Bryan Van Groningen, vice-presidents of the Crops and Soils division of the company, said that they are expecting an average season for pumpkins. Their catalog features a number of unique varieties in addition to classic carving and pie pumpkins.
“We’re looking forward to a good, strong Fall pumpkin harvest season coming up,” he said. “Our fields will be ready to start harvesting in the last week of August,” noting a small window of demand leading up to Labor Day weekend, and then in full swing by October. Acreage dedicated to pumpkin cultivation this year remains consistent with last year’s, he added.
As the company’s watermelon season comes to a close, long hours at the packing shed are spent while managing the surplus volume of melons and pumpkins.
“Sometimes September can kind of be a battle between: How much resources are we going to put into watermelons? How much are we going to put into pumpkins? There is quite a bit of overlap,” he said. But “it naturally works itself out because September for us, as far as shipping melons, starts to kind of decrease while our pumpkin season starts to increase.”
Anticipating a strong season around Halloween, Van Groningen said that the company has over 50 pumpkin varieties available this fall. “Those range from small pumpkins that you can hold in your hands all the way up to 150-pound prize-winner pumpkins and everything in between,” he said. However, a bulk of the business is carving pumpkins and pie pumpkins.
The specialty Fall décor grown by Van Groningen & Sons is largely based on consumer trends reported from wholesale buyers like supermarkets. Grocery stores are already amping up sales for Halloween candy and decorations, so preparedness for the increasing demand for unique crops is necessary.
“A third of our business is all the other varieties [of] all different shapes and colors, and we work real in step with the different retailers so they might have a certain variety that they want to start to carry in their stores,” said Van Groningen.
Additionally, Van Groningen & Sons works closely with plant breeders to improve classic pumpkin varieties and create new ones but is determined by customer preferences.
“Every year we dedicate about two acres to new varieties of testing pumpkin varieties,” he said, “but it’s more or less based off of what consumers like and want.”
Contributing Author:
Lauren McEwen
AgNet West Intern