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North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

As of the week ending Sep 27, 75% of the 2026 North Carolina sweet potato crop is rated good or excellent, 25 points above the five-year average of 50%, versus 45% at this point last year. Harvest is 37% complete (five-year average 31%). The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Week ending Sep 27, 2026

Good to excellent

75%of the crop

25 points above the five-year average for this week, and 45% a year ago.

▲

37%

Harvested

+6 points against the five-year pace of 31%.

–

18.9

million cwt, 2025 final

Final USDA estimate.

Analysis

Week ending Sep 27

North Carolina sweet potatoes rate well above average

For the week ending September 27, 2026, North Carolina rated 75% of its sweet potato crop good to excellent, up 18 points from the prior week and well above both the five-year average of 50% and last year's 45% at the same point. Harvest reached 37%, ahead of the five-year average of 31% but trailing last year's 45% pace. Planting had wrapped up at 96%, in line with last year and slightly ahead of the five-year average of 94%. The next USDA condition report will show whether the recent jump in quality holds as harvest widens.

Written from USDA data and source reports

Weekly ratings

Crop condition, 2026

Bars are the full USDA rating split each week. The dashed line is the five-year average for good plus excellent; the dotted line is last year.

2026202520242023202220212020
North Carolina sweet potato crop condition, 20260%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 7: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 45%, Good 31%, Excellent 22% — good+excellent 53% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Week ending Jun 14: Very poor 3%, Poor 13%, Fair 38%, Good 31%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 46% (5-yr avg —, last year 83%)Week ending Jun 21: Very poor 1%, Poor 5%, Fair 40%, Good 33%, Excellent 21% — good+excellent 54% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 83%)Week ending Jun 28: Very poor 1%, Poor 6%, Fair 45%, Good 32%, Excellent 16% — good+excellent 48% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 82%)Week ending Jul 5: Very poor 3%, Poor 8%, Fair 54%, Good 22%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 35% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 67%)Week ending Jul 12: Very poor 3%, Poor 8%, Fair 37%, Good 34%, Excellent 18% — good+excellent 52% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 72%)Week ending Jul 19: Very poor 3%, Poor 3%, Fair 36%, Good 38%, Excellent 20% — good+excellent 58% (5-yr avg 68%, last year 80%)Week ending Jul 26: Very poor 3%, Poor 3%, Fair 28%, Good 40%, Excellent 26% — good+excellent 66% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 73%)Week ending Aug 2: Very poor 2%, Poor 3%, Fair 31%, Good 41%, Excellent 23% — good+excellent 64% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 57%)Week ending Aug 9: Very poor 2%, Poor 3%, Fair 30%, Good 46%, Excellent 19% — good+excellent 65% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 64%)Week ending Aug 16: Very poor 2%, Poor 3%, Fair 36%, Good 46%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 59% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 81%)Week ending Aug 23: Very poor 2%, Poor 4%, Fair 35%, Good 47%, Excellent 12% — good+excellent 59% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 79%)Week ending Aug 30: Very poor 2%, Poor 5%, Fair 36%, Good 45%, Excellent 12% — good+excellent 57% (5-yr avg 55%, last year 77%)Week ending Sep 6: Very poor 2%, Poor 5%, Fair 40%, Good 46%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 53% (5-yr avg 59%, last year 75%)Week ending Sep 13: Very poor 2%, Poor 5%, Fair 41%, Good 44%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 52% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 71%)Week ending Sep 20: Very poor 3%, Poor 4%, Fair 36%, Good 45%, Excellent 12% — good+excellent 57% (5-yr avg 48%, last year 44%)Week ending Sep 27: Very poor 1%, Poor 2%, Fair 22%, Good 66%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 75% (5-yr avg 50%, last year 45%)−13 pts — week ending Jul 5−13 ptsHarvest begins — week ending Aug 23Harvest beginsJun 7Jun 28Jul 19Aug 9Aug 30Sep 20
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 75% good or excellent, week ending Sep 27. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2026

This season against the five-year average pace and last year.

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20260%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 19: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending Apr 26: 4% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 2%)Planted, week ending May 3: 5% (5-yr avg 3%, last year 3%)Planted, week ending May 10: 13% (5-yr avg 8%, last year 9%)Planted, week ending May 17: 17% (5-yr avg 13%, last year 13%)Planted, week ending May 24: 24% (5-yr avg 22%, last year 26%)Planted, week ending May 31: 43% (5-yr avg 31%, last year 33%)Planted, week ending Jun 7: 58% (5-yr avg 43%, last year 46%)Planted, week ending Jun 14: 69% (5-yr avg 56%, last year 62%)Planted, week ending Jun 21: 79% (5-yr avg 68%, last year 73%)Planted, week ending Jun 28: 87% (5-yr avg 80%, last year 85%)Planted, week ending Jul 5: 92% (5-yr avg 89%, last year 92%)Planted, week ending Jul 12: 96% (5-yr avg 94%, last year 96%)Apr 19May 3May 17May 31Jun 14Jun 28Jul 12
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 96% as of Jul 12 (5-yr avg 94%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2026

This season against the five-year average pace and last year.

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20260%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 16: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 1%)Harvested, week ending Aug 23: 2% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 4%)Harvested, week ending Aug 30: 3% (5-yr avg 5%, last year 10%)Harvested, week ending Sep 6: 12% (5-yr avg 9%, last year 15%)Harvested, week ending Sep 13: 19% (5-yr avg 14%, last year 25%)Harvested, week ending Sep 20: 27% (5-yr avg 22%, last year 35%)Harvested, week ending Sep 27: 37% (5-yr avg 31%, last year 45%)Aug 16Aug 23Aug 30Sep 6Sep 13Sep 20Sep 27
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 37% as of Sep 27 (5-yr avg 31%).

Production record

Final crop by year, through 2025

USDA published production estimates for North Carolina sweet potato through 2025 and has not surveyed the state since.

North Carolina sweet potato crop: final estimate by year05101520million cwt2014: no forecast · final 15.8 million cwt20142015: no forecast · final 16.3 million cwt20152016: no forecast · final 17.1 million cwt20162017: no forecast · final 19.7 million cwt20172018: no forecast · final 11.0 million cwt20182019: no forecast · final 17.8 million cwt20192020: no forecast · final 17.0 million cwt20202021: no forecast · final 18.5 million cwt20212022: no forecast · final 16.1 million cwt20222023: no forecast · final 15.0 million cwt20232024: no forecast · final 13.0 million cwt20242025: no forecast · final 18.9 million cwt2025
Crop yearFinal (million cwt)Crop valueShare of US
202518.9 million cwt$392M58.0%
202413.0 million cwt$255M52.3%
202315.0 million cwt$299M60.5%
202216.1 million cwt$234M58.0%
202118.5 million cwt$234M61.6%
202017.0 million cwt$336M55.2%
201917.8 million cwt$362M58.3%
201811.0 million cwt$262M40.1%
201719.7 million cwt$301M55.2%
201617.1 million cwt$310M54.2%
201516.3 million cwt$317M52.7%
201415.8 million cwt$348M53.8%

USDA published annual estimates for this state through 2025. It has since been dropped from the annual survey, so there is no newer production figure — the weekly condition ratings above are the current measure.

Utilization

Where the crop went

Fresh market against processing and unsold volume, by crop year.

North Carolina sweet potato crop: fresh market vs processing00.511.5million cwt2019: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 1.1 million cwt — 0% fresh20192020: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.1 million cwt — 0% fresh20202021: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.7 million cwt — 0% fresh20212022: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt20222023: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt20232024: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.1 million cwt — 0% fresh20242025: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.1 million cwt — 0% fresh2025
Fresh marketProcessingNot sold

Source: USDA NASS Crop Progress (weekly, April–November) and Crop Production reports. This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS.

Updated September 29, 2026

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