Sand Candy Produce LLC will feature good volume of sweet potatoes during the 2022-2023 marketing season, says Delbert Bland, Sand Candy partner and owner of Glennville, Ga.-based Bland Farms owner.
It’s the year nobody ever dreamed of, but thanks to good weather and healthy retail sales, sweet potato growers appear to be adapting well to their new world.
After unfavorable weather conditions last fall, sweet potato yields dropped from 224 cwt. per acre in 2017 to 190 cwt. per acre in 2018. This season producers are looking forward to the new crop to bring better yields.
As U.S. sweet potato exports increase, The American Sweet Potato Marketing Institute is using special events, promotional activities and social media to tout the benefits of sweet potatoes worldwide.
Southern sweet potato acreage is expected to drop again this year, leaving grower-shippers hopeful that fewer acres will result in lower volume and an uptick in prices.
Faison, N.C.-based Southern Produce Distributors Inc. paired up with Asheville, N.C.-based The Hop Ice Cream Cafe to make Carolina Covington Cheesecake ice cream, and Southern Exposure attendees can get a taste March 3.
