Ugly pumpkins in hot demand for Halloween

They’re lumpy, bumpy and ugly but instead of being relegated to the rubbish bin, these pumpkins take pride of place in Halloween displays.

Native to the Americas, ornamental pumpkin varieties have exploded in popularity as US households seek the perfect aesthetic for the autumn season.

For growers like Randy Graham, the rising demand for the warty gourds has helped secure a future for his multi-generational farm, which is under pressure from urban expansion near Champaign, Illinois.

Australian consumers are embracing the craze too, despite their carved creations being at risk of rotting before October 31.

Divine intervention

Farmers in Illinois were under pressure in the 1970s as cropping demanded more land for production while family farms were being carved up by inheritance and urban sprawl.

The Curtis family had been farming on the outskirts of Champaign, Illinois, since 1873, running a traditional corn, soybean and pork operation.

But by the late 1950s, when Paul Curtis was farming alongside his father Eugene, the farm couldn’t support two families.

“They were basically subsistence farming at that point because the farm had become so small,” Randy Graham, Paul’s son-in-law, said.

As the farm shrunk, Paul and his wife Joyce took up teaching jobs, until a born-again spiritual experience led Paul to re-evaluate everything.

“I guess you could say he had his Newton moment when he was eating an apple because he’s trying to decide, ‘What should I do?,” Mr Graham said.

“He loved apples, so he thought, ‘Maybe I’ll grow some apples.'”

Since Mr Graham married Paul’s daughter Debbie in 1981, the farm has become a thriving agritourism business supporting multiple families.

It has in part been due to the addition of a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. 

“We were looking for something else to attract people to the farm because we needed people to come not just for apples,” he said. 

“We decided to try a few pumpkins because it’s an October thing and it fit our season.

“Those pumpkins sold out by October 10, which shocked me.”

Illinois is the largest pumpkin growing state in the United States, according to Nathan Johanning, an extension educator for the nearby University of Illinois.

“A lot of our pumpkin goes into canneries, where it then goes into filling for pumpkin pies and other pumpkin deserts,” he said. 

“It’s at least 80 per cent of the processing pumpkins … the ornamental market, we fill in a large amount of that as well.”

Pie’s the limit

Mr Johanning said most commercial farmers used a single variety of canning pumpkins in rotation with commodity crops such as corn and soybeans. 

But decorative pumpkins have provided a profitable alternative for farmers with less land. 

“Because they’re vining crops, you really only need half an acre [2,000 square metres], for a small roadside stand to make something of it,” he said.

Over the past 20 years, consumer demand has driven seed companies to develop new-look varieties that are then trialled by the university before being recommended to growers. 

Starting with the white pumpkins — popular for fall weddings — there are now a range of colours and aesthetics on the market. 

“There’s kind of the greyish blues, yellows … ones that have kind of lumps on them, orange with green warts on them … flat, round, tall everything in between,” Mr Johanning said.

“The fall editions of home design magazines started showing some of these different coloured pumpkins and people latched on to them as a unique kind of twist on the fall décor.”

If uncut, Mr Johanning said ugly pumpkins could stay good for months and even up to a year, but once carved they lasted less than a week. 

He said they were edible, but most were composted or fed to wildlife, livestock or pets once the holiday season was over. 

Tropical Halloween

In Australia, pumpkins are almost exclusively grown to eat fresh.

Farmers have struggled with prices below the cost of production. 

But in Queensland, which according to Horticulture Australia produces almost half the national crop, the Halloween bug is also biting. 

At Lamberts Fresh produce, a fruit and vegetable shop in Townsville, tropical temperatures haven’t stopped consumers from getting in on the tradition.

Leigh Spence said the first year they sold carving pumpkins, they cleared about 100 kilograms across the spooky season, sourced from a farm in Clare, north-west of Bowen.

“It used to be an American holiday that no one really participated in here,” he said. 

“I think this season we’ve got about 900 kilos roughly.”

Mr Spence has a special technique to help with the carving. 

“I suggest drawing the design out with pen first,” he said.

“And a really sharp knife is key.”

Mr Johanning agreed, though he said speciality knives available in the US made the job easier. 

“They’re not super super sharp, but they’re kind of serrated because you need something to saw back and forth,” he said.

“It definitely does take a little bit of determination … some can have skin on them up to two inches thick.”

‘Ugly is good’

Back at Curtis Orchard, Randy Graham said some consumers would as spend much as $US65 ($100) on decorative pumpkins.

“Forty years ago when we started planting pumpkins, it was pretty much orange, and that was it,” he said.

“Ugly is good. Ugly is really good.”

His daughter, Rachel Coventry, is busily raising the next generation on the farm — a far cry from the pressure her grandfather faced. 

“I think it’s definitely going to be an option for [my children] because we’ve made it sustainable,” she said.

“It can support multiple families, which is nice. We have a seasonal staff of around 100.

“If they want it and they’re willing to work for it, then it can be theirs as well, and that’s what I’m grateful for — an opportunity to learn how to work hard.”