“Supply is pretty tight at this point but that’s because it’s the end of last year’s crop and this year’s crop has not come off yet,” says Jerry Buczek of Faison, NC-based Farm Fresh Produce Inc., who notes that in the next month, the new crop should arrive. “It’s not unusual at this time for sweet potatoes.”
The weather effect
Buczek notes that some growers have new potatoes already but are finding challenges with that. “Those people are having a more difficult time with quality because when they put their plants in the ground earlier than usual, now the quality isn’t good because of some weather conditions,” he says. “We went through a hot, dry summer here but at the beginning when their plants were in, it was very damp so the early people, while they wanted to get a jump on the game and their yields and quality don’t appear to be as good.”
Buczek estimates he currently has some 2,000 bins or 20 days of packing left from last season’s crop. “That’s pretty much right on where we think it should be,” he says. “It’ll carry us right through to next year’s crop as it begins to come in.”
For more information:
Jerry Buczek
Farm Fresh Produce Inc.
Tel: +1-(910) 920-9874
jerry@farm-fresh-produce.com
www.farm-fresh-produce.com