The parent hybrid pumpkin was grown by Ron Wallace in the United States and the seed was sold as one of 23 lots at an online auction.

BBC: Pumpkin seed bought online for ?168

However, poor farmers frequently cannot afford to buy new seed each season, so they take their chances and replant the best of their seed from year to year in the belief that a new plant that is not quite as good as its parent is better than no plant at all.

ECONOMIST: Terminator genes