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Mother Nature makes mincemeat of pumpkins
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PORTLAND, ORE. - The holidays may not be so sweet this year. Nestlé -- which sells nearly all the canned pumpkin in the United States -- says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays.
The company said heavy rains in Illinois made it nearly impossible to pick its pumpkins during this year's harvest. The longer the pumpkins sit in the muddy fields, the more they deteriorate. As a result, the company announced this week that it would not pack any more pumpkins for the season -- which means it may be hard to find its canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling product until next year's harvest.
"Mother Nature had other plans for us," the company said in an open apology to customers online.
Nestlé is the largest national brand for canned pumpkin products, with 80 to 90 percent of the market, the company said.
It plants a special strain of pumpkin at a farm in Morton, Ill., which provides nearly all its supply. Nestlé estimates if you turned all the pumpkins it grows on the farm to pie, it would total 90 million pies.
"There are a lot of beautiful pumpkins out there that we just can't rescue," said Nestlé spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn.
The company had a wet harvest last year, too, which meant it didn't have a surplus to carry over into this year and led to spot shortages by late summer and early fall. The harvest started in August and it began getting products onto grocers' shelves soon after that, but it won't be able to meet its normal demand.
"We hope everyone understands that Mother Nature was a little difficult this year and hope she's a little bit kinder to us next year," O'Hearn said.
Nestlé said it has seen year-round popularity of pumpkin grow recently as more people have become aware of its health benefits, but Thanksgiving is still the company's peak season.
Pie makers can still use fresh pumpkin or other brands.
Trader Joe's said it has its store-brand pumpkin in stock.
Whole Foods Market Inc. said that while it is aware of lower pumpkin yields in parts of the country, the company was able to get enough pumpkin for its store-brand product and actually shipped more product to stores this year than ever before.
Corvallis, Ore.-based Farmers Market Organic, the country's largest provider of organic canned pumpkin, said it has shipped millions more cans of its product this year.
"Pumpkin pie is something people just won't do without, it's pretty sacred," said Tracy Miedema, national sales and marketing manager for Farmers Market Organic.
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