The Great Huckleberry Supply Crunch

To the uninitiated, huckleberries might conjure up memories of Huckleberry Finn or Huckleberry Hound. But for Anna Baumhoff, the tart-sweet fruit has provided her livelihood for three decades—and with demand soaring as supplies dwindle, she’s starting to question how long she’ll last. “On a daily basis, I wonder what I’m doing in this crazy business,” Baumhoff says. “It’s a Wild West show.”

Prices for huckleberries have almost doubled in the past two years, to as much as $17 per pound, as more people discover the fruit just as extreme heat in the American West has made for weak harvests. Last summer, Baumhoff spent more than $125,000 buying every berry she could—some 7,500 pounds—and she fears that still may not be enough. “Our website is going crazy,” she says.