Matthews Ridgeview Farms of Wynne, AR in the northeast part of the state is that state’s largest grower/shipper of sweet potatoes, and the company is expanding acreage again this year.
New crop harvest usually starts in September with the predominately grown beauregard variety.
The grower/shipper has plans to continue increasing acreage and production in coming years. Shipments mostly go to retailers, wholesalers and some foodservice operations.
The company packs about 1 million cartons of sweet potatoes sourced from several thousand acres annually.
Matthews continues to ship the 2021 crop, and the 2022 crop looks favorable. The company offers organic sweet potatoes, which now account for less than 10% of the marketer’s total sweet potato volume.
Organics continue to increase as has been the case sine the operation began growing organics.
Peebles Organic of Augusta, AR., is a USDA-certified organic vegetable operation that farms about 2,000 acres of organic sweet potatoes, organic edamame (immature soybeans) and watermelons. The company ships to other produce shippers, processors and retail customers.