Rain may put pumpkin pie in peril, Nestle says [View All]

[Hannah Bell]

Nestle -- 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.

Nestle 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. Nestle estimates if you turned all the pumpkins it grows on the farm to pie, it would total 90 million pies

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. The harvest started in August and it began getting products on its shelves soon after, but it won't be able to meet its normal demand.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Rain-may-put-pumpkin-pie-in-apf-1323181927.html?x=0&.v=7


80-90% = 1 corporation
sourced from one farm (& no secondary emergency sourcing?)

this is the 2nd case of "shortage" i've heard of recently.