“The good news is that as of mid-August we were about 50 percent harvested in Alabama,” Jason Bell, account manager for Tater Man, headquartered in Sydney, FL, told The Produce News. “Until about mid-August, the supply line was basically empty nationwide of stored sweet potatoes from the 2013 crop, which is pretty much common knowledge throughout the industry. But we’re right on schedule this year. Alabama harvesting will wrap up around the middle of September. Movement has been strong on the new crop, and we were first in the country to ship cured sweet potatoes right out the gate again this year.”

Tater Man’s Alabama sweet potato harvest is showiing good set and nice quality.Shortage from last year’s crop has caused prices to remain firm, which is good news for sweet potato producers. But Bell said he does not expect the market to be volatile.

“With the increased demand and consumption up, we expect to have a fairly stable market throughout the coming year,” he noted. “We’re very pleased with the crop conditions in Alabama this year. We have nice volumes and high quality to offer our customers.”

Tater Man was also digging sweet potatoes in Georgia in mid-August, and it had just begun harvesting its North Carolina crop in mid-August.

“We started harvesting in Georgia the second week of August, and plan to wrap that up by the end of September,” said Bell. “That crop is also very nice, although it was a bit slow to mature. The set was a bit heavy, and that combined with some weather conditions slowed it down a little.”

He explained that in some years the “set,” as it’s called, can be light-meaning just a few potatoes on a plant, to heavy-meaning as many as six or more. The heavier the set, the slower the potatoes mature.

In North Carolina, Tater Man produces sweet potatoes in the eastern region. The company started digging there in early August, and will wrap up by the end of October. Bell said the company has a lot of acreage in the state. This year he expects the crop to be about normal in volume. He also noted that the state’s acreage is up, as it is the rest of the country because the demand is so strong.

“We’re really pleased with the quality of our sweet potatoes in all of our growing regions,” said Bell. “The market is good and our distribution is strong throughout the Eastern U.S. and as far north as Canada.”