That's a Meta???

The answers (pdf) to the haiku clues used in the Downtown Santa Rosa Puzzle Hunt were released recently. I actually wasn't that interested in the answers, having solved a few and saw how little fun it would be to solve any more; however, I was curious how the meta worked, the one thing that made me think it was possible this was a "real" puzzle hunt. Here's what the solution to the meta reads:

Using the answer sheet numbers corresponding to the answers of questions 1-15, plus the number 1041 yields a list of all the plant patents awarded posthumously to Luther Burbank when the 1930 Plant Patent Act was signed into law. He was awarded Plant Patents numbers 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 41, 65, 66, 235, 266, 267, 269, 290, 291 and 1041.

Right! Shoulda been obvious...