It may not be until the third week of September that Nestlé-Libby’s canned pumpkin hits store shelves again. In fact, there are only six remaining in the entire office at one of Nestlé’s corporate offices in Ohio.
The supply shortage was caused by oversaturated fields which devastated a number of pumpkin crops throughout the U.S. last year. Consumers were finding it hard to locate a can of the processed pumpkin on grocery store shelves. And, it came at an inopportune time — Thanksgiving, when thousands of bakers prepare pumpkin pies.
Nestlé launched a campaign to publicly address the shortage. They even started a website devoted to information regarding the canned pumpkin shortage.
Reportedly, cans of Libby’s pumpkin were being sold on eBay during the shortage.
There is a bit more optimism on Nestlé’s end this year. And, the hope is that supply should be able to meet demand. Despite a brief period of excessive rain in the beginning of the planting season, there have not been many problems to report according to Nestlé spokeswoman Roz O’Hearn.
“It was a little wet at the beginning. We had to replant seeds in certain areas,” O’Hearn said.
“We’re just starting to can the pumpkin,” she added. “We’ll pack until all the pumpkin is gone.”
Nestlé plants thousands of acres of farmland with Libby’s Select seed during the spring.
