Nash Produce expects stable sweet potato outlook
Nash Produce is well positioned to manage sweet potato demand for the balance of the season, said Thomas Joyner, president of Nash Produce, Nashville, N.C.
“I’m always optimistic,” Joyner said at the Southeast Produce Council's Southern Exposure tradeshow and conference, held in early March in Orlando, Fla. He noted that the quality of sweet potatoes coming out of storage has been good.
Market conditions for North Carolina sweet potatoes in early March were similar to year-ago levels.
The USDA reported that U.S. No. 1 sweet potatoes in 40-pound cartons were $15.50-$17 per carton on March 5, up slightly from $15-$17 per carton a year ago.
As growers begin to prepare to seed beds for the new crop, Joyner said acreage for the Nash Produce, founded in 2006, should be about the same as last year. Primary varieties grown by Nash Produce include covington, murasaki and bonita, he said, with covington being the most-common variety planted by the company.
The company is located about 100 miles from the coast, halfway between the coast and Raleigh, N.C., near Interstate 95.
Industrywide acreage could be down a little in 2022 because of heavier inventories of 2021 sweet potatoes in storage, Joyner said. But whatever happens with acreage, Joyner said Nash Produce will have plenty of sweet potatoes for its customers. Harvest of the new crop starts around Labor Day, he said, and there will be good supplies of the 2021 crop available until then.
“Nash Produce has never run out of sweet potatoes, and we don’t intend to start this year,” Joyner said.
The company has a variety of offerings, including tray-pack, bags, steamable/microwavable bags and individual, shrink-wrapped, microwave-ready sweet potatoes.
Labor supply is expected to be adequate, as the company brings in temporary agricultural program, or H-2A, workers to assist with planting and harvesting activities. Many of those workers come to Nash Produce every year, Joyner said.
Joyner said the company continues with research to make its packaging materials more sustainable.
