Editor’s note: This story was originally published on momaha’s sister site, LiveWellNebraska.com
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MINNEAPOLIS — Bert Bouwman doesn’t consider himself a trendsetter. But when he planted 15,000 pumpkin seeds at his Brooklyn Park, Minn., farm this year, he became part of a fledgling national campaign to add a new product for Breast Cancer Awareness Month — the pink pumpkin.
“There’s a lot of pumpkin farmers out there, but not a lot of pink ones,” said Bouwman, standing in a field of light pink pumpkins last week. “This was a combination of a new product, a new opportunity, and most important, a way to support a cause that affects nearly every family.”
After years of blitzing shopping malls, grocery stores and restaurants, the breast cancer charity movement has landed in farmers’ fields. At least three Minnesota vegetable growers, and about 50 nationally, are launching the unusual campaign organized by a new foundation prodding farmers to think pink.
The board chairman of the aptly named Pink Pumpkin Patch Foundation (pinkpumpkinpatch.org) is Don Goodwin, president of Golden Sun Marketing in Minnetrista, Minn.
The fruits of the foundation’s labor can be found, in limited supply, at three Omaha-area retailers: Home Depot, Whole Foods and Baker’s stores. The light pink pumpkins range is size from medium to large and in price from $4.99 to $9.98.
Those three are among about 900 retailers nationally that have picked up the product during its trial season, said Goodwin.
“It’s going surprisingly well,” said Gunars Sprenger-Otto, produce manager at Fresh Seasons Markets in Victoria and Minnetonka, Minn. Sales picked up after he set up a pink poster announcing, “American Pumpkin Growers have donated a portion of Porcelain Doll Proceeds to Cancer Research.”
The “porcelain doll” is the name of the new seed. The poster comes courtesy of the foundation, which has begun marketing the product in earnest.
The pumpkin fundraiser sheds light on how some other pink products wind up on store shelves every October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A Colorado pumpkin breeder discovered a pink pumpkin in his field about five years ago, said Bouwman, and spent several years developing the seed.
The breeder approached Goodwin, a marketing veteran who had previously worked with Target produce. They decided to associate the product with breast cancer awareness, and to use an October roll-out to coincide with breast cancer events and Halloween.
Farmers who bought the seeds signed a contract pledging to give 25 cents from every pink pumpkin to breast cancer research. Their donations are funneled through the small foundation, which has a five-person board of directors.
The foundation will evaluate its earnings later this year and solicit grant applications from community groups, said Goodwin, who knows friends who have battled breast cancer.
“It’s hard not to find an adult who hasn’t been affected by this terrible disease,” he said.
Bouwman grows other unusually colored pumpkins, such as white and peach. He’s been pleasantly surprised by the demand for the pink, which aren’t ideal for carving jack-o-lanterns, but make for attractive fall displays.
“I’m shipping them to other states, too,” he said. “Missouri wanted two semi loads. I told them they could have one.”
Since the pink pumpkins have not been grown in Minnesota before, Bouwman is hyper-alert to such weather stresses as lack of water and cold temperatures. But so far, so good, he said.
The folks at Bergmann’s Greenhouse and Gardens in Stillwater, Minn., weren’t quite so lucky. Their pink pumpkin patch near Marine on St. Croix, Minn., attracted some unwanted admirers.
“The deer loved them,” said Peggy Neurer, a greenhouse worker. “They’re very sweet.”
So sweet that the deer essentially wiped out the entire crop, she said. That said, Bergmann’s is likely to make a donation to breast cancer research anyway, she said.
