Poor weather means potential shortage of canned pumpkin

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The holidays may not be so sweet this year.

Nestl — which sells nearly all the canned pumpkin in the U.S. — says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby’s pumpkin-pie products through the holidays.

In a statement to customers this week, Nestl said heavy rains 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, Nestl said this week that it would not pack any more pumpkins this year, 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.

Nestl is the largest national brand for canned pumpkin products, with 80 percent 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 products. If you turned all the pumpkins on its farm into pie, it would total 90 million pies, Nestl spokeswoman Roz O’Hearn said.

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 spotty shortages in late summer and early fall.