Sweetpotatoes are the bread-and-butter of not only North Carolina, but Nash Produce. 

“We live, breathe and sleep sweetpotatoes as it is the only crop that we distribute year-round,” said Rebecca Scott, grower accounting/marketing director with the Nashville, NC-based company. “That strict focus on the tasty root vegetable allows us to best serve all our customers’ sweetpotato needs.”

Nash Produce’s product inventory and storage capacity grant the company the ability to provide a fresh product all year long until its new harvest is ready.

“That really is the beauty of sweetpotatoes,” Scott said. “Given the right storage conditions, they can provide excellent nutritional value for consumers 365 days of the year. While I can’t quite put an exact value on the total amount of sweetpotatoes that are processed in our facility, millions of pounds move through our conveyor belt over the course of a year.”

In 2022, Nash Produce is celebrating its “Sweet Sixteen” as the company was officially founded on Feb. 6, 2006, where year-round sweetpotato packaging and distribution was its top priority from day one. 

“We’ve grown a substantial amount since then by adding a much larger packing facility, expanding our grower base, and adding several machines including multiple bagging machines, a steamable bagging machine, and a machine to carefully seal sweetpotatoes for microwave use,” Scott said.

“While our packing operation grew, so did our controlled temperature facilities. Sweetpotato consumption has developed over these 16 years due to the nutritional benefits sweetpotatoes provide to a healthy lifestyle and overall product affordability. We are hopeful to see the category grow more with each passing year.”

To be successful in the category, it requires open communication, and that’s something that the company has always strived to do. The company prides itself on telling its customers that their needs will not only be met, but exceeded. 

“The relationships we have made with customers who continue to source their sweetpotato needs from Nash Produce have allowed us to expand not only in our reach to retail and foodservice locations all over the world, but also allow us to grow in facility size,” Scott said.

“We are always looking to expand our product offerings and welcome any custom label brands in a variety of packaging styles,” she added.

Scott described sweetpotato sales in 2021 as being “excellent” and is anticipating another strong year in 2022.

“Supply and demand were both up from the previous year and movement was good,” she said.

“Our growers wrapped up 2021 crop harvest before Thanksgiving and the crop looks great,” she continued. “Potatoes are a nice size, have vibrant orange, purple, and white skins, and overall, taste delicious. Harvest volume was very good this year with no signs of severe weather conditions that we typically see in late fall. This is fantastic as it correlates to the rise in sweetpotato demand.”

Elsewhere around the company, Nash Produce welcomed two new employees to the family late last year.

“Gary Warren is a veteran in the agricultural world who is serving as our inventory manager and Amy Clark joins us as our new accounting manager,” Scott said. “They have both hit the ground running and have been great assets to our production.”