The Dykemans are not the only ones who love pumpkins.
Pesky deer like to feast on them, so the family tries to ward them off with peanut butter smeared on electric fencing.
“They get a buzz and the negative signal hopefully keeps them away,” Mr. Dykeman said. “But sometimes you’ll see the bite marks on the pumpkins.”
The peanut butter (about $10 per 80 ounces) is one of the many items the couple analyze as they break down costs and yields per acre. They are sticklers about the numbers, counting things like a broken fan belt ($1,700).
Pumpkins, with their variety of sizes, shapes and colors, grow in most U.S. states. In 2023, New York devoted 4,300 acres to planting pumpkins, with an estimated value of $10 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While almost all of Illinois’s production goes into cans for pie filling and other processed foods, a vast majority of New York’s pumpkins are the Howden variety, destined for front porches, apartment building lobbies and office break rooms. In recent years, white, green and pink pumpkins have become more popular, along with oddly shaped ones.
Prices in the New York area can vary, depending on size and color and where they are purchased. A 20-pounder cost $50 at a suburban Westchester community pumpkin patch, but a nearby grocery store sold similarly sized pumpkins for $9.99. At one Upper Manhattan grocery store, a pumpkin was $5.99.
The Dykemans charge 75 cents a pound, if customers pluck their own from the patch — the same price since 2021. Pre-picked pumpkins at their farm stand go for 85 cents a pound, which factors in the labor and fuel costs of harvesting, moving and cleaning them. In 2014, pumpkins were 60 cents per pound to pick your own, and from 2017 until 2021 they were 65 cents.
The season begins when fields are prepared in April and seeds are planted in May and June, and extends through October, when the farm harvests some pumpkins and leaves the rest for picking. Starting in late September, the Dykemans host pumpkin-picking events, with hayrides, face painting and apple picking. Most customers are in search of an outdoor experience, and about half come from the New York City region.
But rabbits, woodchucks, insects and mildew in wet weather all find pumpkins enticing, too. The Dykemans spray at night to avoid harming bees during the day. That means Mr. Dykeman, who works 14-hour days half the year, is out in the big tractor after 10 p.m. some nights.
Pumpkins also soak up lot of nutrients, so the Dykemans rotate crops annually by planting rye and sunflowers, among others, to restore the soil. The farm’s 344 acres also grow corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and apples.
Looking ahead, the family sees increasing labor costs, extreme weather and climate change as long-term issues.
“Over time, under current trends, it will be very difficult to cultivate pumpkins in New York in 40 years or so,” said Steve Reiners, a professor of horticulture at Cornell, who grew his first pumpkin at age 7. “New York will be like Georgia.” But, he added, researchers are looking for new strains that can withstand hotter temperatures, which would allow the Dykemans to continue growing pumpkins.
Mr. Dykeman’s great-grandfather started the farm about a century ago and the pumpkin patch has been a feature for the last 50 years. Mason, the Dykemans’ 11-year-old son, pitches in, driving the tractor on weekends or after school.
And the pumpkins are a family affair for customers, too. Ms. Dykeman has noticed that some families take photos year after year, with the same foliage-covered hills in the background, while holding a pumpkin.
“It makes you realize how important a pumpkin is,” she said.
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