Katie Looper shows off some of her pumpkins.
Katie Looper is a junior and proud member of the Elk Grove-Pleasant Grove FFA Chapter in California. Three years ago, Looper started a vegetable production project where she grows and sells pumpkins.
Growing pumpkins isn’t as easy as one may think; Looper has spent about 400 hours working on her project each year. Considering she worked tirelessly year-round to prepare for the big pumpkin sale in the fall, to say she is dedicated to her project would be an understatement.
Looper started each year by researching the best ways to improve her growing process. She also prepped her acre-and-a-half field by weeding and creating her rows. She went above and beyond preparing her land for planting by sending soil samples to a facility in Idaho to ensure her soil was in the correct condition. She then started purchasing her seeds in January and planted her pumpkins in June.
Looper’s pumpkins outside her house. She creates fun designs and trails to attract more customers.
Once her crops were planted, Looper continued to weed and water throughout the season. When August rolled around, she started to advertise on social media and put up signs around her neighborhood informing consumers of the details of her roadside pumpkin stand. Looper even employed the help of her fellow FFA members in September to assist with harvesting the pumpkins and setting up her stand.
Flash forward two years. In 2023, she decided it would be easier to purchase her pumpkins from a local farm instead of going through this extensive growing process again. Thus began the search for a local grower who would be willing to strike a deal and sell her their stock in the fall.
Looper’s driveway with all her pumpkins displayed. She has them sorted by size and variety.
Looper was successful in her thorough pursuit and found a farm in Galt, Calif., whose contract had just ended with Costco. Looper struck gold with 11 6×6 bins of pumpkins. She then turned around and sold them to people in her community.
This not only turned her project from production to sales, but it also turned her profit margin from 20% to 60% in one year. This switch to sales also cut her work hours in half, allowing her to focus more on her other projects of raising broiler hens, breeding heifers and market lambs.
Throughout her project thus far, she has accumulated more than $38,000 in income and invested 1,500 hours. Looper’s journey is an inspiration to us all and proof that hard work and dedication truly pay off.
