Latest News From Carolina Produce

South Carolina and North Carolina are a powerful one-two punch for U.S. watermelon availability.

Part of that hard-won dominance is due to the state’s perfect combination of soils and temperatures that sweet potatoes need, says the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

North Carolina’s potato growers will deliver big volume of fresh and chipping potatoes this summer for a relatively short marketing period.

Nash Produce is exclusively focused on sweet potatoes, says Thomas Joyner, president of the Nashville, N.C.-based marketer.

Raleigh, N.C.-based L&M Companies has an ample supply of Carolina produce commodities in the months ahead, company leaders said.

Vegetable and fruit growers in the Carolinas aren’t having any trouble selling their produce, says Kevin Hardison, marketing representative for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

North Carolina produce shipments dipped slightly from 2019, U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics reveal.

Nash Produce LLC supplies sweet potatoes 52 weeks per year and the Nashville, N.C.-based company is preparing for the start of cucumber packing around mid-June, said Thomas Joyner, president.

With harvest starting the first week of May, South Carolina is poised to offer buyers a good crop of peaches in 2021.

Marketing the spring harvest and stored produce of the Carolinas isn’t the same game these days.

In the Carolinas, spring and summer produce is an edible rainbow. And the harvest is looking good, growers say.

After eight years, WP Rawl decided it was time to revamp its line of conventional, triple-washed and ready-to-use leafy greens with a packaging refresh.

North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission now is working with a new marketing agency — Raleigh, N.C.-based Fresh-West-Vaughan, said Kelly McIver, the commission’s executive director.

Jackson Farming Co. has acquired Chadbourn, N.C.-based sweet potato grower-shipper Wayne E. Bailey Produce Co.

Wilson, N.C.-based Vick Family Farms is expanding its organic line of Natural Gold sweet potatoes, said Charlotte Vick, partner.

Coosaw Farms (Coosaw Ag LLC) will add acreage next year to accommodate a new crop of blackberries, as well as highbush organic blueberries.

Spring typically brings a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables from the Carolinas, and this year is no exception, suppliers and marketers say.

Carolina grower-shippers expect to have the labor they need for the summer thanks to the H-2A guest worker program.

Ridge Spring, S.C.-based Titan Farms hired four people and promoted another ahead of the summer season.

Demand for local product continues to serve Carolina grower-shippers well.

Growers report good weather recently after some twists and turns during the winter months.

There will be peaches coming out of the Carolinas this year — just not as many as there might have been.

Weather in the Carolinas has been kind to some crops and locations and not so much to others, say grower-shippers around the two states.

Carolina produce grower-shippers are expanding organic acreage to meet consumer demand.

Carolina consumers who want to eat fruits and vegetables grown close to home have plenty to choose from, marketers say.

As peach growers in the Carolinas face the prospect of a leaner crop this year in the wake of a March freeze, blueberry growers in the region are looking at a similar prospect.

Business updates on companies featured in The Packer's Carolina Produce section.

Carolina produce shippers don’t have to go far, for the most part, to find prized export markets.

The allure of Carolina produce isn’t limited to retailers. Restaurants are clamoring for locally grown commodities, grower-shippers in the region say.

The last major blast of winter, which cut into some of North and South Carolina’s annual fruit production, spared its summer vegetables.