The North Carolina sweet potato season could wind up being short this year. "It's not surprising given the number of acres we planted as an industry," Jeff Thomas with Scott Farms says.
Three years ago, the state had planted approximately 105,000 acres–a number that dropped to roughly 85,000 acres the following year and then dropped again to about 75,000 acres this past growing season. "We've had a decline in acreage as an industry," says Thomas, noting it grew the same amount and is moving the same volume year over year for its customers. "We are getting calls from people looking for product, which leads me to believe it's going to be a bit shorter this year."
What also is factoring into this is that the industry started shipping the crop, which is a good quality one, in September last year. Typically shipping begins in October or at the beginning of November. Rather than finishing shipping early this year, shippers such as Scott Farms have been watching this since Thanksgiving already and are carefully covering programs. "We're just trying to maintain our customers and then we are helping out where we can," he says.
Even demand for sweet potatoes
Meanwhile, the pull on the crop has been steady. "You're not seeing the valleys that you would normally see. We're staying pretty consistent week over week," says Thomas. "I expected this week to be a bit dead but it's been kind of busy and I think it will be steady over the next few weeks." In fact, it's even anticipated to stay somewhat steady through summer, a time when historically sweet potato demand would soften slightly.
With this, pricing is starting to increase. "I think pricing has to strengthen given where the inventory of the market is. You might see fewer promos between now and the end of the crop year than you would normally see just because of the volume," he says.
Looking ahead, planting on the 2024-2025 sweet potato crop could begin in about three weeks.
For more information:
Jeff Thomas
Scott Farms
Tel: +1 (919) 284-4030
[email protected]
https://scottfarms.com/