Vick Family Farms has deep tradition in sweet potatoes
Vick Family Farms has long been a trusted name in sweet potatoes, growing, packing and shipping year-round.
“Sweet potatoes are our largest crop on the farm. We only pack and ship cured product and usually begin mid-September with new crop cured each year,” said Charlotte Vick, partner/sales and marketing manager for the Wilson, NC-based company. “We keep all of our inventory in a controlled environment to have consistent quality year-round for our customers.”
Its acres have grown each year since it started the farm 49 years ago.
“Our brands are well known for their quality and our customer service is consistent year-round,” Vick said. “Our partnerships with retail customers have certainly grown considerably the last few years, so our focus is on keeping those relationships strong and continuing to grow sales.”
The company farms approximately 10,000 acres of other row crops that lend themselves as rotation crops with its sweet potatoes to keep things on a three-to-four-year rotation, which helps Vick Family Farms in its goal of having superior quality.
“If sweet potatoes are planted year after year behind themselves, you tend to get poorer quality and more disease,” Vick said.
Those at Vick Family Farms are looking forward to the upcoming season.
“We are thankful harvest has begun and we made it through a long hard summer of drought, heat and excessive rainfall in August,” Vick said.
“Harvest was delayed beginning about 10 days due to the stress of extreme weather during the growing season. As we now have begun to see what the harvest is yielding, the crop quality looks very good. We are still very early in harvest as it will continue through early November, so we are cautious to label this crop just yet. Quality for us is the most important factor and that looks very nice.”
Vick Family Farms works hard to offer consistent quality and strong customer service.
“Communication with buyers in learning their needs and helping to grow the category is important for our success,” Vick said.
“We are fortunate the sweet potatoes have such great health benefits so education is certainly a part of the success. Consumers sometimes just do not realize the value of the sweet potato and how versatile it can be.”
As the company looks to the future, it sees several avenues of growth opportunity, and feels it has the right people in place to make growth happen.
“Today, farming is hard and there are so many challenges we all face and the increasing labor costs is at the top,” Vick said. “I think figuring out that is key to success for the next generation. Sustainability is so very important and in the midst of hard years, it is easy to just be working long hard days and not thinking much about the future because all you care about is that moment. We have been fortunate to have good employees that have been with us many years and understand our goals and the integrity of our family and business and they too share those same values.”
The family feels fortunate to have the next generation back and part of the team.
“As they grow and learn more about the company, they have a different set of eyes that can offer opinions and ideas for the future,” Vick said.