US: Sweet potato harvest underway
Sweet potatoes are being snatched from the ground from over 200-acres of Pontotoc County land.
This year's crop looks to be pretty good.
"We've got a couple of hundred acres here in east Pontotoc. And, we've got some on down close to Randolph that got a little more water than they should have with a little more rain in July and August. But, they're looking pretty good," said farmer Jason Angle.
The workers are playing a big role in making sure the right potatoes get to the markets.
"They're seperating the potatoes. You have some that come out that are too small. You have your number ones field packs, your number two that are good potatoes. You want to go to the supermarkets and they kind of seperate them in different bins there," Angle continued.
Once the potatoes are picked and seperated, they are then trucked to a warehouse where they are cured and then washed.
Angle says the entire harvesting process could take up to six weeks to complete.
"Well, we'll be here for about two weeks and then we'll move to our next field," Angle says. "We don't have the luxury of having the big fields around here like they do in the Delta. We just have to follow the river bottoms and creek bottoms where the good land is," he said.
According to MSUCares.com, Mississippi's top five sweet potato-producing counties are Calhoun, Chickasaw, Pontotoc, Yalobusha, and Panola.
Source: www.wtva.com