Produce trucking sweet potato loads could be affected significantly for the 2016-17 shipping season due to damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. Loading opportunities this fall for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina will be impacted much less, although volume from these three states is limited this time of year.
Southeast produce growers are estimating damage from Hurricane Matthew which hugged coastal Florida and Georgia before slamming into South Carolina and North Carolina, where it flooded fields and caused evacuations
North Carolina Sweet Potato Shipments
Around 40 to 45 percent of the sweet potato harvest had been dug when the storm dumped up to 18 inches of rain October 6 – 9 during the middle of the North Carolina harvest.
There is little doubt North Carolina sweet potato shipments were hit pretty hard, and significant losses will occur, but the bottom line is it will take days, if not week to assess the damage. Earlier this week many roads remained impassible with a lot of farmland remaining underwater as river levels were still rising in some areas.
Besides sweet potatoes, the Tar Heel state also grows and ships cabbage, greens and a variety of fall vegetables including bell peppers, cucumbers and squash.
South Carolina Vegetable Shipments
The South Carolina received 8-18 inches of rain and growers and state officials are assessing damages. However, South Carolina isn’t a significant player in vegetable shipments this time of the year, although it does have leafy greens are grown in small acreage in the flooded areas east of Columbia. There also are crops grown in sandy soils of the interior growing regions that should fair okay.
South Carolina’s peach shipments were completed in September, but there are cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and watermelons grown closer to the Atlantic Coast. There are expected to have damage.
Georgia Vegetable Shipments
Most of Georgia’s southern vegetables are grown in the south-central part of the state, but are believe to have escaped serious damage. As for the 2017 Vidalia onion crop that starting shipping in April, the area had up to six inches of rain resulting in minor damage to Vidalia onion seed beds, which are planted for the spring harvest.
Some Vidalia onion shippers lost power for about 10 hours. The electricity runs coolers for their imported Peruvian onions but no damage was reported.
Florida Produce Shipments
Little or no damage was reported with Florida vegetables or citrus.