“Our supply of sweet potatoes is tight because it’s the end of our growing season. We’ll sell what we have and start again with a new crop in September,” relates Matt Garber of Garber Farms. Garber Farms grows and sells its own sweet potatoes in a season that runs year-round, except for a one-month break. Various factors affect the supply of Louisiana sweet potatoes, such as manpower and weather. “So many things affect supply,” said Garber. “We’ve had a good season so far.” In discussing other challenges to his farm, Garber brought up labor. “It’s a constant challenge for everything that we need to get done.”
Flat pricing
“Because of the supply from other locations, the sweet potato prices were very flat during the entire season. It comes down to competition—but in a free market, that’s what we get to deal with. We always want more,” shares Garber.
Despite the flat pricing, Garber reports that his expectations for the remainder of this season are good. “Even though we’re running out of potatoes, our supply was good throughout the year,” says Garber. Garber Farms plants one crop for the entire year, planning on having just one annual harvest, which runs from August to October. For the remainder of the year, Garber Farms ships out of storage. As it harvests its sweet potatoes, it ships them to the Northeast, Midwest and into Canada. Consumption is “always steady,” shares Garber.
New sweet potato variety
Garber Farms experiments with new sweet potato varieties and is selling small quantities of a new potato with a purple skin and white flesh. “This is our most trending variety and it is selling. It’s only a small part of our sales,” said Garber. “It’s not as sweet as the regular sweet potato, but it does have a little sweetness to it.”
Contact:
Matt Garber
Garber Farms
Tel: 337-824-6328