Growers and shippers continue to manage a very tight sweet potato supply from North Carolina. "The quality of the crop is still good and I think that at the end of the season, there may be a deviation of specs possibly to help get through the crop," says 3 Star Produce's Josh Wright, adding that supply is quite a bit tighter than it was a year ago at this time. "Those clients with extremely tight specs may have to open it up a bit to be able to continue to get supply. Jumbos for example are pretty much non-existent."
This comes due to a smaller 2024 sweet potato crop on both size and yield.
Also, as predicted, very little of the crop is destined for export markets, even with strong demand and pricing for export product. After all, the extremely short crop is seeing high domestic demand and leaving pricing favorable in the U.S. "At this time of year, exports also typically get pulled back because it's a higher risk to ship them with the heat picking up or issues with logistics that could cause issues with your crop," says Wright.
As for the 2025 crop, it's currently being planted in North Carolina. "It's been a really good growing season–hot but not too hot with steady rain but not too much rain so far," he says. "A sweet potato needs a ton of water but doesn't like to be wet."
© 3 Star Produce
North Carolina growing conditions
This is why the sandy soils in Eastern North Carolina make for good conditions to grow the product. "With the large amount of rain that we get, the plant is able to take it once and then not have to sit in water because it's being drained through the sandy soils," says Wright.
While 3 Star Produce grows the Covington variety of sweet potatoes, it's also increasing acreage on this variety as well as the Murasaki. This variety is more often grown on the West Coast of the U.S., a region that sees more Asian vegetables growing. "We're getting the quality of the West Coast Murasaki which is helping tap into that market. We have an East Coast Asian vegetable program as well which we're very happy with," says Wright.
For more information:
Josh Wright
3 Star Produce
Tel: 1+919-223-8555
https://3starproduce.com/
