The Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission is celebrating its 70-year anniversary in 2022, a milestone that doesn’t even tell the complete story of the roots of sweet potatoes in the state.
“We were formed in 1952 by the Louisiana Legislature,” said René Simon, director of the commission and part of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. “We’ve been raising sweet potatoes for over 110 years for commercial production, and sweet potatoes have been raised in Louisiana probably since about its founding (in 1812).”
Simon, who has been with the commission since 2008, said the 70-year anniversary of the commission is celebrated with social media and billboards across the state. The marketing campaign features images of growers, with the focus being on what farmers do to deliver sweet potatoes from the farm to the table.
Some of the taglines featured with images of farmers include:
- “Louisiana consumers should support products grown in our state.”
- “Everyone loves yams and I love to grow them.”
- “Our reputation is growing.”
- “The sweetest part of any meal - grown by your neighbors.”
- “We’re proud to support an ongoing family tradition.”
- “Our harvest is sweeter.”
- “We were farm to table before it was cool.”
- “We’ve proudly grown sweet potatoes for over 43 years.”
- “Louisiana grown and Louisiana proud.”
- “Farm to table; we dig it.”
“Our growers are excited,” Simon said. “Seventy years ago, somebody had the foresight to (create the commission) and it’s really a wonderful milestone.”
The state’s growers are taxed 4 cents per 50-pound unit of sweet potatoes produced, with half of that assessment going to marketing and advertising efforts; the other half goes to support research and development for sweet potatoes, he said.
Growers’ assessments for research and development are funneled to Louisiana State University’s Sweet Potato Research Station in northeast Louisiana near Chase. It is the only facility of its kind devoted solely to sweet potato research, Simon said.
“The commission has been a big, big supporter of the center,” he said.
Rewind and look ahead
Area of sweet potatoes in the state was about 7,000 acres last year and could be about the same this year, Simon said. About two-thirds of the state’s potatoes are grown in northeast Louisiana, with the other third of the crop grown in south central Louisiana, he said.
Top varieties in the state include orleans, beauregard and bayou belle, with Evangeline and other varieties also grown on smaller acreage, he said.
Since about 2010, Lamb Weston has operated a sweet potato frozen fry plant in Delhi, La., and that has served to help stabilize the industry, Simon said. About 60% to 65% of the state’s production is sold for processing, with the balance sold to the fresh market. Before the plant was opened, the majority of the state’s sweet potato production was sold fresh, he said.
Storage supplies of 2021 crop sweet potatoes will extend to about mid-summer, Simon said. Louisiana typically runs out in June and July, though some suppliers may try to keep their customers supplied longer, he said.
Simon said the 2021 crop in storage has been selling at a good clip, and growers are beginning to look ahead to the 2022 crop, which starts with the process of bedding and then planting sweet potato slips.
Bedding is a process of putting seed potatoes in soil, covering the beds with plastic to enhance growth. After the seeds sprout, growers take the sprouts (called slips) and transplant them in the fields. The process of planting seed potatoes and then transplanting the slips can take about two months, Simon said.
Louisiana sweet potato harvest typically begins in August, with the bulk of the crop harvested in September, October and November.
Marketing reach
The commission’s primary marketing efforts are geared to consumers through social media and billboard messages, Simon said.
“We are trying to make the connection of our farmers with the consumer,” he said. Beyond strong demand in the state, many of Louisiana’s sweet potatoes are sold regionally, with big volume to Texas markets of Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Some of the state’s sweet potatoes are sold in Oklahoma, southern Mississippi, Alabama and Florida along the Interstate 10 corridor.
“We still sell some up in the Northeast, some into Canada and some in the Midwest,” he said.
