How pumpkin-picking is helping to save farms

As the Halloween season gets under way and the popularity of the celebration is soaring, businesses are seeing a corresponding bounce in their profits at this time of year.

And for many farmers it is a humble, but very photogenic, seasonal crop which is helping to boost their takings.

The craze for pumpkin-picking - whether for a spooky decoration or to make into a heart-warming soup - means this heroic vegetable has become a regular crowd-pleaser.

Rees Keene, from Over Farm in Gloucester, said the trend for pick-your-own pumpkins during Halloween had become one of their most important sources of income.

He said there had been "big increases" year on year with about 35,000 visitors to the farm last October.

"We do a third of our turnover on the farm over Halloween, so it's a very significant period of the year for us," he said.

As more farms have offered pumpkin picking, many have taken it up as an annual tradition.

"It's definitely got a lot busier and more popular than when we first started," said Emily Thomas-Williamson, from Portskewett, Monmouthshire, who has been pumpkin picking at Halloween every year since 2021.

"I think it's now a combination of people wanting to spend time together and people realising it's a good opportunity to make content for social media."

She said: "I believe that's also why displays at farms have become so much bigger and are more expected, rather than just grabbing a wheelbarrow and heading into a field - there's more photo opportunities along the way.

"Going pumpkin picking means I can buy from farmers directly rather than having to buy from supermarkets for everything," she added.

Over Farm has been developing its Halloween offering for decades - long before the pumpkin patch became a popular group activity.

It was Keene's father, Rob, who first introduced pumpkins to the small family farm in the 1990s after a visit to America, inviting the mayor of Gloucester and organising a pumpkin-carving competition to encourage visitors.

"He didn't really know what the reception would be and had to educate customers on what to do with them," said Keene.

"I think the desire for an autumnal-themed celebration around harvest is where it's all come from - and also the desire to keep up with the Joneses of the USA," he said.

"Around 1,000 people were coming by 2020, although we'd been doing pumpkins for 25 years at that point, so it wasn't a completely cold start.

"There's been a subtle shift in popularity since then. Halloween has now been big for us for many, many years and Christmas feels comparatively quiet in comparison," he said.

For the hard-working staff at Over Farm, the Halloween season is one of the busiest times of the year.

The pumpkin crop has five varieties, including Turks Turban, Crown Prince and Little Gem.

"Visitors collect a wheelbarrow and go out and pick whatever pumpkins or varieties of squash that they want," said farm foreman, Peter Morgan.

"I would say a lot of the pumpkins that we sell get used for soups and other dishes, but we do grow an ornamental variety called a gourd, which is more decorative, and we also grow a miniature pumpkin, called a munchkin, and people love them," he said.

Morgan, from Ruardean in the Forest of Dean, said it had been harder this summer due to the extremely hot growing season.

"It favoured us in a way to begin with, but we've had to irrigate the crop very early to keep it alive.

"But to see everything in its glory now - for me personally and for the five staff who have put the time and effort into growing these pumpkins - is very rewarding.

"And, to be honest, I have never seen a child leave here unhappy," he added.

Diversification has been key in helping smaller farms to survive, and Halloween has become one of the biggest seasons of the year for many.

Heather Parry, managing agent at National Farm Attractions Network, recently told the BBC that ten years ago a pumpkin patch was a field and a wheelbarrow, but now it had become big business.

"Halloween gives farms a short, high-footfall season," she said.

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