Like other growers in the Red River Valley, Campbell Farms has taken its lumps during the 2011 production season. Owner and partner Tom Campbell said he expects the crop will be down approximately 10 percent this season due to impacts from weather. But he sounded an optimistic note on Sept. 26 when he spoke with The Produce News. When asked to characterize the crop, he said, “It’s drop-dead gorgeous.”

Black Gold Farms sank its roots deep into the fertile soil of the Red River Valley more than 80 years ago. “Black Gold Farms started in 1928 when Hallie Halverson planted his first potatoes in Forest River, North Dakota,” said Glen Reynolds, national director of produce sales. “Black Gold Farms still farms those very acres. In 1959, Black Gold Farms grew potatoes for chips. Since then, this has been the main focus of the business.”

“We started digging Florida sweet potatoes on July 25 and wrapped up harvesting on September 12,” Jason Bell, account manager for Tater Man in Sydney, FL, told The Produce News. “The crop is in storage and is all cured. Movement and momentum has been very good. We have positioned ourselves with cured sweet potatoes from beginning to end, including throughout the Thanksgiving and Christmas push. We specialize in putting customers in touch with the highest-quality, freshest product. We strongly urge people to buy locally, and we strive for long-term sustainability.”

Eva Dawson, sales and quality control representative for Dawson Farms LLC in Delhi, LA, told The Produce News that the company was about a quarter of the way through its harvest as of Sept. 29.

Shane Watt, director of sweet potatoes for Wada Farms Marketing Group in Idaho Falls, ID, and Mac Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Category Partners LLC, a retail-service marketing arm owned by Wada Farms, are working together to help retailers understand the strong sweet potato trends and to assist them in expanding their lines to take advantage of the great opportunities that the product offers today.

Wayne Garber, a partner in Garber Farms in Iota, LA, told The Produce News that the consumer is going to like this year’s crop.

“We’re 60-percent harvested as of today,” he said Sept. 27. “We had a dry and hot growing season, so we had to irrigate almost continually since planting. Fortunately, moisture in September from Hurricane Lee gave us some relief. It was an expensive crop due to all the irrigation, but it worked. The crop quality is excellent this year, and volumes are average to above average.”