Vick Family Farms was eager to begin the 2021 sweet potato harvest mid-September as harvest was a few weeks late for North Carolina due to weather challenges during the planting and early growing season.

North Carolina growers produce around 16,000 acres of potatoes per year, making it one of the state’s most important crops during the summer.

Harvest takes place from mid-June through July and sometimes can stretch into early August. While that amount of acreage may not sound like too much, the entire crop is harvested and shipped within a six-week period, so the potato farmers are hard at work all summer long.

This is a year of celebration for the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission as it celebrates its 60th anniversary. To continue in that celebratory spirit, NCSPC partnered with Ripe Revival to host a first-of-its-kind event in connection with the Harrison Family YMCA’s after-school program.

North Carolina Ports has reached an agreement with Sun Valley, ID-based Cold Summit Development to further expand its cold chain and cold storage capabilities.

The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission named FullTilt Marketing its domestic agency for marketing and public relations. FullTilt Marketing is a boutique marketing agency scaled to deliver full-service capabilities at a personal level with expertise in fresh produce, specialty foods and agriculture.

Bland Farms LLC, Battleboro Produce, Boyette Brothers Produce LLC and Sandyland Produce have announced a new partnership and sales company, Sand Candy Produce LLC. The four major sweet potato growers have partnered in Sand Candy Produce to focus on selling sweet potatoes grown in North Carolina and Georgia. With their respective packing facilities, each partner has the ability to pack bins, boxes, and bags with sizes ranging from two to 10 pounds, including shrink wrap and microwave.