Durham, N.C.-based organic sweetpotato marketer Happy Dirt has seen ideal growing conditions over the last month to wrap up the growing season, with harvest expected to start up in late September, says Pat Bayor.
Bayor, vice president of sales and purchasing for Happy Dirt, said its North Carolina growers had near-ideal growing conditions in 2023 but more challenges this year.
“2024 has been tougher with long periods of no rain in June, followed by too much rain over the summer,” he said. “However, our farmers are anticipating good yields this year. They didn’t end up losing much, if any, acreage — not without some close calls though.”
Bayor said Happy Dirt expects sizing to be consistent again this year when harvest begins.
“We expect to have year-round sales gain this year for Grade 1 retail, mediums and bagged sizes, jumbo and processing-grade sweetpotatoes,” Bayor said. “We work with our farms to harvest fields planted late a little early to ensure we have mediums for bagging. We should be selling 2023 crop into October to early November and then will move into the various varieties staggered based on how long each variety takes to cure.”
Happy Dirt plans to launch a multichannel local marketing campaign in November for its organic covington sweetpotatoes, highlighting one of Happy Dirt’s farmer-owners, he said.
“We plan to partner with a national restaurant chain that will be opening two locations in North Carolina, as well as a local ice cream shop that has seven locations,” Bayor said. “We are excited to educate North Carolina consumers, and others, about organic sweetpotatoes that are grown in their backyard.”
Bayor said sweetpotatoes is one of the fastest-growing programs for Happy Dirt.
“We are working hard to extend our other varieties, like the garnets, purples and mursasakis, to have year-round availability like our covingtons,” he said. “We also have the only Fair Food Program-certified organic growers in the country right now, and we are excited to see continued growth for this new emerging market when it comes to the Fair Food Program.”
In addition, Happy Dirt is trialing a few new specialty purple varieties from North Carolina State University and looking forward to seeing how they turn out this fall, working specifically to increase color vibrance and flavor, Bayor said.
“We will also be continuing our 3-pound compostable bag program on our specialty sweet potatoes, with more volume expected,” he said.
