Idaho’s agricultural strength often stems from its hot days and cool nights. Sweet potatoes -which aren’t actually potatoes- and regular potatoes require very different growing conditions. Sweet potatoes tend to do better in more tropical environments. It takes about 150 frost-free days to grow sweet potatoes, and Idaho can’t meet those conditions. Sweet potatoes do better in more fertile soils too, while Idaho typically has sandy, silty loams along the Snake River.
“They need really hot temperatures for a long period of time,” University of Idaho Extension Horticulture Educator for Twin Falls County Andy West said. He grows sweet potatoes in the Magic Valley but has a greenhouse for his plants. He said he planted about 50 sweet potato plants this year and got about a gallon bucket’s worth of tubers at season’s end — a much smaller return than he’d have seen with plain potatoes. He tried growing more sweet potatoes outside this year, but the plants in the greenhouse fared better.
The vast majority of American sweet potatoes come from southern states. North Carolina is the country’s sweet potato capital and has been for the past half-century, typically accounting for about 60% of the US harvest.
Last year, North Carolina harvested 78,500 acres of sweet potatoes according to the US Department of Agriculture. That was more acres than the next five top sweet potato producing states — Mississippi, California, Louisiana, Florida and Arkansas — combined.
In 2018 Idaho harvested 315,000 acres of spuds according to the US Department of Agriculture. The runner-up for American potato production, Washington, harvested 160,000 acres. North Dakota, Wisconsin and Colorado round out the top five for spud production.
Source: southernminn.com
