The economics of pumpkin patches • Hacker News Board

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#41

Post by ViViDboarder » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

karaterobot wrote: post #27

jjmellon wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The chart shows that 25% to 50% are not "capable" of being sold. I think this refers to losses in the field, such as unripe, overripe, insect or animal damage, etc. However, the article ignores the fact that many of the ones that are capable of being sold are never sold.

Why would they ignore that, but include losses in the field? Without more information, I assume the "not capable of being sold" number includes unsold units too.

It’s possible, but doesn’t seem that way to me. That explicitly mention field damage and so forth but don’t mention unsold pumpkins.

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#42

Post by lotsofpulp » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

dazc wrote: post #23

lotsofpulp wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pumpkins are an expiring good. To move as many as possible as quickly as possible while also collecting as high of a price as each person is able/willing to pay, it is best for the seller to offer many versions of the pumpkins at many price points. Aka selling different styles of pumpkin at different price per weight. The seller can sell to people willing to pay more for various styles, and people willing to pay more…

I would agree with you but, from my limited observation, there seems to be an awful lot of pumkins left over after halloween has been and gone. Maybe what already happens isn't the best way?

I have no idea. I generally assume markets with many participants that have existed for many years and with seemingly no regulations, are the way they are because various constraints of nature have tended towards that solution.

One would need to know what a typical amount of waste is and the cause of that waste to determine if there is too much waste and how to fix it. But I am guessing whatever waste there is now is a pretty optimal amount of waste unless there is some new development that reduces the volatility of producing pumpkins.

Farming in general is like that, since so many variables are outside of peoples’ control. You have to aim for extra even if you are not projecting to sell all of it, assuming the cost of making the extra is absorbable.

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#43

Post by ViViDboarder » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #26

madiator wrote: post #21

I have mixed feelings about Halloween. On the one hand, it has a great social aspects to it: people get together for carving, there are parties, and kids have so much fun. But the environmental and health sides of it mindboggling. We are completely fine growing so many pumpkins only for them to be carved and thrown away; we buy a ton of costumes that are worn once and go to the landfill; and we buy so many candies a…

They are renewable and compostable —both things are often not possible to achieve in other activities. Those not used can actually be used for baking pumpkin pies —though probably slightly different from regular pie pumpkins, but good enough. So all things considered, this should not even register vs things like other festivals where there are tons of trash left over.

Compostable but are they all composted? Where I live, yes; but in other areas they go inside a plastic bag to a landfill where the bag won’t break down for many many years.

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#44

Post by swixmix » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:26 PM UTC

madiator wrote: post #35

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We are completely fine growing so many pumpkins only for them to be carved and thrown away; As far as entertainment goes, carving a pumpkin and then letting it quickly compost away is relatively low impact. You could always argue that the most environmentally friendly option is to do nothing at all and cause nothing to be produced or moved around, but that's hardly a realistic argument. Criticizing every activity t…

I hear you. I am not criticizing Halloween, since I take part in doing all of these. I did mention costumes going to landfill though, not just pumpkins. What I mentioned doesn't have to be taken to extreme to say nothing should be produced and moved around! By that analogy, the only way to save the environment is to stop living.

How do we know what the environment wants? When we are saving it, it’s from our perspective. We are saving our environment. There are plenty of pests that don’t like what we’re up to.

We are important. :)

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#45

Post by cgriswald » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

madiator wrote: post #21

I have mixed feelings about Halloween. On the one hand, it has a great social aspects to it: people get together for carving, there are parties, and kids have so much fun. But the environmental and health sides of it mindboggling. We are completely fine growing so many pumpkins only for them to be carved and thrown away; we buy a ton of costumes that are worn once and go to the landfill; and we buy so many candies a…

I suspect I do far more damage to myself and the environment with how I use computing equipment than I'll ever do on Halloween. It really depends on how you do Halloween.

> We are completely fine growing so many pumpkins only for them to be carved and thrown away

We roast the seeds of any pumpkins we carve and compost the remains. The ones we don't carve get turned into pumpkin pie. We get immense satisfaction from the planning, carving, and displaying of our Jack-o'-lanterns.

> we buy a ton of costumes that are worn once and go to the landfill

We tend not to buy the cheap costumes, but instead assemble our costumes from a combination of costume parts and real items. We have chests full of this stuff and even if we don't use a particular item again, our spooky entity-creations do. The stuff will only end up in the landfill if my inheritors throw them away.

> we buy so many candies a lot of which probably gets thrown (which is probably better than eating them).

I eat all the candy. I give myself permission to eat less-than-great from Halloween to New Years. If I start getting some chub, I work out a little extra. I even did this when I was a body builder (just don't tell any of my trainers).

*Edit: HN-specific markdown...

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#46

Post by fouc » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

tomrod wrote: post #8

monkeydust wrote: post #3

I went to a patch with the kids over the weekend here in UK. It was fun but when it got time to pay we joined a long queue with others having our pumpkins in a wheel barrow. When we got to the front we had to match our pumpkins to a template based on size (cost from 50p to £10) and then a cashier would tally up the total. I got chatting to the owner whilst waiting and he was open to a more tech smarter way to pay to…

Here is my thought process: > - Move your barrow under a camera. Minimum $5k, closer to $25k, to set physical hardware, network, queueing line and instructions > - It would take a picture and through image recognition identify and classify pumpkins based on size. $100k+ capex to get implemented model on hardware, sufficient training samples + training expertise, QA, etc. Ongoing opex for maintenance (sun, weather), m…

Or get a pumpkin size detector working as a phone app and load it on a cheap $150 android phone taped to a stick

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#47

Post by swixmix » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 5:00 PM UTC

odyssey7 wrote: post #6

david38 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weight is the simplest by far. 50, Otherwise, build a box, and the smallest box that fit the pumpkin determines its size.

I wonder if they run into issues selling by weight. Customers are usually paying more for the visual size, not however much water a particular item has in it. Does the weight increase linearly with size? If it’s especially hollow, probably not, while an especially large and hollow pumpkin may be uncommon and should be sold for a high price. Edit: I guess a better question would be, can you predict desirable carving q…

I’ve sold pumpkins on a farm before. It’s a social experience where you pay for the pumpkin “ticket” at the end.

Whole families dress up for the experience. People love being in a pumpkin patch and searching for their favorite pumpkin. They love doing it with their family. They enjoy the risk of wheeling them and guessing how much they weigh.

And the farm makes more money when they grow heavier pumpkins.

This isn’t an activity to be taken so seriously.

Scales and measurement aren’t really necessary. I could eyeball and wobble a pumpkin very quickly and give a fair price. But then I am having all the fun, not the customer.

Put the tech into making it a better experience!

Oh is that tractor pulling a wagon? Got to go!

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#48

Post by swixmix » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

fouc wrote: post #46

tomrod wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is my thought process: > - Move your barrow under a camera. Minimum $5k, closer to $25k, to set physical hardware, network, queueing line and instructions > - It would take a picture and through image recognition identify and classify pumpkins based on size. $100k+ capex to get implemented model on hardware, sufficient training samples + training expertise, QA, etc. Ongoing opex for maintenance (sun, weather), m…

Or get a pumpkin size detector working as a phone app and load it on a cheap $150 android phone taped to a stick

A pumpkin size detector is also known as an eyeball.

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#49

Post by paulcole » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

madiator wrote: post #21

I have mixed feelings about Halloween. On the one hand, it has a great social aspects to it: people get together for carving, there are parties, and kids have so much fun. But the environmental and health sides of it mindboggling. We are completely fine growing so many pumpkins only for them to be carved and thrown away; we buy a ton of costumes that are worn once and go to the landfill; and we buy so many candies a…

This is the kind of handwringing that makes me 100% sure climate change is going to wreck us in ways we can barely imagine right now.

Fixing humankind’s damage to the environment is going to take such sweeping societal changes that Halloween costumes and pumpkins shouldn’t even be a blip on our radar.

Re: The economics of pumpkin patches

#50

Post by bane » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

madiator wrote: post #21

I have mixed feelings about Halloween. On the one hand, it has a great social aspects to it: people get together for carving, there are parties, and kids have so much fun. But the environmental and health sides of it mindboggling. We are completely fine growing so many pumpkins only for them to be carved and thrown away; we buy a ton of costumes that are worn once and go to the landfill; and we buy so many candies a…

A time honored practice when carving pumpkins is to roast the seeds in your oven with oil, salt, and pepper. They make a fantastic snack.