Exporting sweet potatoes out of North Carolina could look very different this year. “Domestically we’ll be okay for demand but on export, I don’t think there’s going to be a lot like there has been in years past because of the demand domestically,” says Kristi Hocutt of Triple J Produce.
The demand that is there is for a crop with less acreage out of the state. Reports indicate that while 2022 saw between 85,000 and 88,000 acres of sweet potatoes out of North Carolina, this year Hocutt says the projections she’s been given are for 66,000 acres. “In my opinion, it goes back to cost,” she says. Labor is extremely expensive right now. Secondly, when you have a big year in acreage and the grower can’t get adequate money back for the crop, then they can’t get adequate seed to grow which is what’s happening. A lot of people don’t know how to market sweet potatoes and they sell them cheap and it hurts the grower in the end.”
2023 crop
Right now, the supply of new crop is tight. “We are trying to get harvesting going which is very tough. We’ve had no rain and the crop isn’t sizing up. What is harvested that we’ve seen, the yields are down right now so it’s just tight,” says Hocutt. Some growers who were able to plant early are harvesting now. “We could be harvesting if they sized up. As for right now though, things are on schedule but that could change within a week or two, rain or no rain,” she says.
As for pricing, Hocutt hopes pricing will be stronger this season than last season.
For more information:
Kristi Hocutt
Triple J Produce
Ph: +1 (252) 289-8326
[email protected]
www.triplejproduce.com
