More than 13,000 refrigerated truckloads of North Carolina’s sweet potatoes are shipped each season.
With big volume every month of the year, North Carolina sweet potato growers easily account for the biggest share of orange vegetable supply. In 2020, North Carolina accounted for about two-thirds of total U.S. sweet potato truck shipments reported by the USDA, followed in volume by Mississippi (16%), California (11%) and Louisiana (6%).
North Carolina’s harvested sweet potato area in 2021 was 104,700 acres, producing yields of 175 cwt per acre and total production of 18.32 million.
According to USDA shipment numbers from 2021, November is the top month for North Carolina sweet potatoes, accounting for 11.3% of total crop movement that year.
The percentage of the total North Carolina sweet potato crop shipped, by month, in 2021, according to the USDA:
- January: 8.5%
- February: 9.2%
- March: 10.5%
- April: 9.1%
- May: 10.6%
- June: 8.5%
- July: 5.8%
- August: 4.7%
- September: 5.6%
- October:7.2%
- November: 11.3%
- December: 8.6%