Nestled in the Pacific Northwest, resting in the flatlands of the Skagit River Delta, Bay Baby Produce is a leader in growing organic pumpkins and winter squash. 

“We began with just 30 acres of soil and a vision of creating a family-owned farm around the notion of giving painted pumpkins a personality,” said Michele Youngquist, president of the Mt. Vernon, WA-based company. “Like other local farmers, our goal was to provide a good living for our families and employees while honoring and contributing to the traditions and values of our agricultural communities through sustainable farming, production, and logistic solutions.”

Michele Youngquist, President, Bay Baby Produce

Over the past few decades, Bay Baby Produce has expanded its farming operations to just over 600 acres and has added organic winter squash to the mix.

“From a business that was originally 100-percent decorative pumpkins, fresh-packed produce now accounts for 65 percent of our production,” Michele said.

“Like other local farmers, our goal was to provide a good living for our families and employees, while honoring and contributing to the traditions and values of our agricultural communities through sustainable farming, production, and logistic solutions.” -Michele Youngquist

Bay Baby Produce is a vertically integrated company. It grows, sells, packs, and ships its produce, with no outsourcing of farming or production operations.

“We cut out the middleman, which in turn streamlines processes and offers our retail partners fresher and higher-quality products with minimal to zero shrink,” Michele said. “Our high-quality product is followed through from the field to our retail partners by our entire team.”

Bay Baby Produce hand-decorated pumpkins

Currently, Bay Baby Produce offers more than a dozen different varieties of pumpkins/ornamentals, 50 varieties of painted pumpkins, and 10 different varieties of organic winter squash.

Bay Baby Produce is a vertically integrated company. It grows, sells, packs, and ships its produce, with no outsourcing of farming or production operations.

The company recently launched a redesign of its popular Pumpkin Pie Baking Kits, which includes high-graphic imagery in both English and French-Canadian, allowing for greater product visibility.

“It’s a perfect addition for fall fun and family baking memories,” Michele said. “Each grab-and-go bag includes two pie pumpkins and spice packet with a delicious and easy-to-prepare pumpkin pie recipe. This is great for US and Canadian Thanksgiving marketing promotions.”

Bay Baby Produce organic pie baking kit

“Our products are versatile in baking, cooking, and decorating. They have many of the buzzwords consumers are looking for, such as 'low calorie,' 'low cholesterol,' 'low sodium,' 'low carb,' 'plant-based,' [and] 'vegan,' plus they’re healthy and delicious.”

According to Nate Youngquist, farmer for Bay Baby Produce, demand for Honey Boat squash continues to grow at a rapid pace due to consumer education, making it a key crop for the company in recent years.

Nate Youngquist, Farmer, Bay Baby Produce

“Our harvest practices are extremely labor intensive,” he said. “We are working to sustainably streamline production processes with drip irrigation, plastic mulch, mechanical cultivating, and maintaining labor.”

Bay Baby Produce hand-painted apples

“Our mission is to be a consistently reliable source for high-quality organic winter squash and pumpkins,” Michele said. “We are working diligently to market 100 percent of our products through retail partners and secondary distribution and processing solutions.”

“Our harvest practices are extremely labor intensive. We are working to sustainably streamline production processes with drip irrigation, plastic mulch, mechanical cultivating, and maintaining labor.” -Nate Youngquist

The company is planning a greater focus on digital marketing in the year ahead, including doing more videos and showcasing 360-degree images from the farm. It will also have a greater presence on social media, which will help bring more attention to its products and be a boon for retailers as well.

“We are creating and offering unique B2B product features and information to our retail partners to offer cross promotional opportunities, both online and in-store,” Michele said. “Our customized display options offer our retail partners variety and an instant display all in one unit. The best feature for so many of our retail partners is the labor savings of their team members by having a quick focal point display and being able to build around [it] by cross merchandising with other fall items.”