Nash Produce is expecting a good year for North Carolina sweetpotatoes.
Harvest was to start “full throttle” by early October, said David Bradley, director of business development for the Nashville, N.C.-based marketer. Historically a big packer and shipper of cucumbers, Nash Produce in recent years has been solely focused on sweetpotatoes, he said.
This year, North Carolina sweetpotato growers endured a dry growing period in June, with rain helping the crop in the latter part of July.
“From what we have seen after we started digging, everything seems to be looking good,” he said, noting the expectation is that industry acreage may be up from a year ago.
After packing its 2023 sweetpotato crop, Nash Produce planned to transition into the new 2024 crop about Oct. 15, he said. Nash Produce ships both domestically and to export markets including Europe, Canada and Mexico.
Nash Produce offers a variety of packing options, with a focus on convenience to meet the needs of retailers and consumers. Nash Produce packs in both its own labels and private-label packs for retailers.
“To make our packs more consumer convenience is our goal,” Bradley said.
Whether that solution is tray packs or 3- or 5-pound bags, the driving aim is convenience, he said.
Depending on retail interest, Nash Produce is open to combining different sweetpotato varieties in the same bag, Bradley said. Covington variety sweetpotatoes lead volume in North Carolina, through the purple-skinned, white-flesh murasaki variety is gaining popularity.
Sweetpotatoes offer several attributes consumers love, said Robin Narron, marketing director and sales support for Nash Produce. Compared to many other fresh produce commodities, sweetpotatoes offer a long shelf life, she said.
“As far as versatility, there’s so many different ways that you can cook a sweetpotato or serve a sweetpotato that make it so much easier to fit into pretty much any meal you have,” she said.
While linked to holiday occasions by many, Narron said sweetpotatoes are good any time of the year, for any reason, and any season.
“There is always something you can use sweetpotatoes for,” she said.
Bradly said the superfood status of the North Carolina sweetpotato also adds to its appeal.
“People who are shopping for sweetpotatoes are a little bit more conscious about health decisions they make, and I think it is one of the reasons we have seen consumption increase,” he said.
