Vick Family Farms set to begin transplanting sweet potatoes as state faces drought
Vick Family Farms set to begin transplanting sweet potatoes as state faces drought
As North Carolina sweet potato growers prepare fields with seed beds, they are facing an extremely dry spring, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture declaring 82 of the state’s counties as natural disaster areas in mid-April.
At Vick Family Farms, based in Wilson, NC, sweet potato seed beds are under drip irrigation, but with more than 10,000 acres of various crops, irrigating every field is impossible.
“Our water sources are down considerably and we desperately need rain,” said Charlotte Vick, partner/sales and marketing manager at Vick Family Farms.
The company’s sweet corn crop is under pivot irrigation, but again, without rainfall, relying solely on irrigation isn’t possible.
Likewise, the farm’s sweet potato crops are spread across multiple counties, Vick said, and irrigating all those acres is not feasible.
According to the U.S, Drought Monitor, most of the state was facing a severe lack of rain in mid-April.
Vick said last season’s crop is seeing good movement this year, so sales have been very good.
“Retailers are reporting increased sales, and we feel that our excellent quality from last year’s crop, good marketing efforts on behalf of our NC Sweetpotato Commission and great partnerships with our customers have all contributed to the uptick of sales this year,” she said.
Sweet potato transplanting should begin in early May, and growers are keeping seedbeds manicured to have good quality transplants — while praying for rain, Vick said.
“Each season farmers tend to have challenges,” she said. “We are all very resilient, and have to be, to be in this industry. From weather, labor challenges, fertilizer and fuel price hikes — you name it and we face it in this industry. We all seem to endure these challenges and continue to do what we love: putting a seed in the ground and trusting we will produce a good crop to feed the world each year,” Vick said.
The Vick Family Farms sweet corn crop is typically harvested starting at the end of June and lasting through July. In mid-April, Vick said it was too early to predict the exact date when the corn will be ready for harvest.
“We will have bi-color and yellow corn again this year and look forward to working with customers to provide good quality corn to celebrate the Fourth of July, which is the big sweet corn holiday,” she said.
The region’s sweet potato harvest traditionally begins in mid- to late August and continues through early November. Vick Family Farms primarily grows the Covington variety, the traditional, orange-fleshed variety that is most popular with consumers.
“We pack pretty much all pack types and can work with customers on private label packaging as well,” Vick said.
The versatility of sweet potatoes has raised the vegetable’s profile among influencers who are bringing innovative recipes to their followers on social media platforms.
“If you have social media accounts, all you have to do is look up one sweet potato recipe and the algorithm will start showing you all of the influencers promoting how they enjoy them,” Vick said. “I am loving all the different ways people are eating them now and all of the health benefits that come with it.”
