Topashaw Farms offering wider variety of packaging options

Topashaw Farms, based in Vardaman, MS, grows sweet potatoes on 29,000 acres, packing and shipping MS Beauregard variety sweet potatoes year-round.

“Our main objective is to provide the industry with the highest quality sweet potato possible,” said Joe Edmondson, owner of the company. “Because our farm is family owned and operated, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that when a consumer purchases a Topashaw Farms sweet potato, their satisfaction is guaranteed.”

While Topashaw Farms has been packing and shipping sweet potatoes since 2010, Edmondson has been growing and farming sweet potatoes for more than 45 years.

There has been much evolution over the years, including the upgrading of equipment, the introduction of technology, regulations in employment as well as food safety, and most importantly, the education of the health benefits to the consumer.

“All of our storage is fully automated,” Edmondson said. “We have 156 million pounds of storage capacity.”

To be successful in the sweet potato business, the company believes it’s important to keep consistent quality product on the shelf.

Topashaw Farms sells its potatoes to several processors that make a variety of products, mainly chips and fries, while its fresh packs go primarily to major chain stores and some markets in bigger towns.

The firm uses two Kerian mechanical sizers and can grade multiple sizes at the same time, and its sweet potatoes are handled just once in order to protect quality.

Last year was slower than past sweet potato seasons, which Edmondson attributes to the economy. Still, he characterized the overall year as a good one. Looking ahead, he sees the current sweet potato crop looking a little shorter than normal due to the potatoes going through some stress, and doesn’t expect the last half of the crop to be as good as the first has been.

“With the cost of everything increasing—like fuel, fertilizer, labor and freight, I would say the input cost is on the continuous rise,” he said, citing the biggest problems the company faces. “I would say that the biggest challenges today are economic hardships for consumers, Logistics and transportation and short staffing issues due to illness from COVID.”

For retailers looking to improve sales numbers of sweet potatoes, Edmondson suggests synching different departments together for advertising.

“Like for your summer months, pairing your sweet potatoes with grilling options for summer cookouts,” he said. “During your holiday months, pair deals with traditional meats like turkey and hams, or even offer a recipe pamphlet with them. Also educate to the consumer the health benefits of the sweet potato.”

One of the newest things Topashaw Farms will be doing over the course of the new year is offer a wider variety of packaging options, which it will talk about at the upcoming Global Produce Show in Orlando, behind Booth No. 4679. This will also allow the company to talk about what has helped it be a leader in the sweet potato category for so many years.

“We take that extra step to provide a high-quality product,” Edmondson said. “It’s worked well for us and that’s what we continue to do.”