If you love pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving and use canned pumpkin in your recipe, it might be time to start thinking about making an apple pie instead. Heavy rains that persisted throughout the 13-week pumpkin harvest in Morton, Illinois, making it difficult to pick the entire crop. As a result, less pumpkin has been picked and canned, leading to an anticipated shortage of LIBBY’S pumpkin products as the holidays approach.
Nestle, which controls about 85% of the crop for canning, is running out of pumpkins due to the rain soaked pumpkin patches. Supermarkets say supplies are tight and there's a lot less LIBBY’S canned Pumpkin on store shelves as the country enters the holiday season.
“We know that LIBBY’S Pumpkin, with the LIBBY'S Famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe on the label, plays an important role in the traditional holiday meal,” said Paul Bakus, Vice President/General Manager, Nestlé Baking. “Libby’s has been a part of that tradition for more than 80 years and we appreciate that honor. That’s why we wanted to alert bakers to the anticipated shortage. Our calculations indicate that we may deplete our inventory of canned LIBBY’S pumpkin as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday.”
The company plants thousands of acres of farmland with LIBBY’S select pumpkin seeds in the spring. In fact, Nestle added acreage this season since the 2008 harvest also had been affected by poor weather.
Harvest generally begins in late August and continues until all the pumpkins are picked. This year, heavy rains saturated the pumpkin fields, making it nearly impossible for tractors and other equipment to operate.
Currently, acres of pumpkins sit unharvested in Morton, the “pumpkin capital of the world”. The longer the pumpkins sit in these muddy fields, the more likely it is the quality of the pumpkin has declined. Officials have determined that pumpkin which fails to meet Nestle’s quality standards will be plowed under, once the fields dry, to enrich the soil for the 2010 season.
As a result of the weather and the company’s commitment to picking and packing only quality fruit, the 2009 inventory of canned pumpkin will be smaller than planned. Nestle is continuing to ship the last of the already canned inventory.
When it is gone, there will be no more pumpkin available until the 2010 harvest. This is why the company believes a shortage of LIBBY’S pumpkin is likely.
“If only we could have changed the weather!” said Bakus. “We hope Mother Nature is nicer to us next year, hopefully delivering less rain and more sunshine. If you are unable to find Libby’s 100 percent Pure Pumpkin at your local grocers, we apologize and hope you will understand.”
If you're planning on making a pumpkin pie, go now and grab that traditional can of LIBBY's canned pumpkin before it disappears off the store shelves. In fact, buy a few just in case your friends or family come up empty handed at the store. After all, it's the season of giving and being thankful. Even for canned pumpkin.
Cheryl Phillips
HULIQ.com
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