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North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

USDA last rated the 2020 North Carolina sweet potato crop for the week ending Oct 11, when 69% was good or excellent. Harvest stood at 95% complete. The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Oct 11, 2020

Good to excellent · last reading

69%of the crop

Share of the 2020 crop rated good or excellent for the week ending Oct 11.

–

95%

Harvested

As of Nov 22.

–

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, 2020

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, 20200%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 14: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 15%, Good 76%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 84% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 51%)Week ending Jun 21: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 17%, Good 71%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 82% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 64%)Week ending Jun 28: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 22%, Good 60%, Excellent 16% — good+excellent 76% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 68%)Week ending Jul 5: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 21%, Good 63%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 78% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 59%)Week ending Jul 12: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 18%, Good 66%, Excellent 16% — good+excellent 82% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 68%)Week ending Jul 19: Very poor 1%, Poor 2%, Fair 27%, Good 59%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 70% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 61%)Week ending Jul 26: Very poor 0%, Poor 2%, Fair 36%, Good 56%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 62% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 66%)Week ending Aug 2: Very poor 1%, Poor 3%, Fair 31%, Good 59%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 65% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 55%)Week ending Aug 9: Very poor 1%, Poor 4%, Fair 25%, Good 62%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 70% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 58%)Week ending Aug 16: Very poor 1%, Poor 4%, Fair 23%, Good 62%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 72% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 64%)Week ending Aug 23: Very poor 1%, Poor 4%, Fair 20%, Good 64%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 75% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 61%)Week ending Aug 30: Very poor 1%, Poor 2%, Fair 19%, Good 66%, Excellent 12% — good+excellent 78% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 58%)Week ending Sep 6: Very poor 0%, Poor 4%, Fair 22%, Good 65%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 74% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 50%)Week ending Sep 13: Very poor 0%, Poor 4%, Fair 43%, Good 45%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 53% (5-yr avg 58%, last year 52%)Week ending Sep 20: Very poor 0%, Poor 3%, Fair 37%, Good 51%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 60% (5-yr avg 55%, last year 55%)Week ending Sep 27: Very poor 0%, Poor 2%, Fair 44%, Good 47%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 54% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 51%)Week ending Oct 4: Very poor 0%, Poor 3%, Fair 34%, Good 55%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 63% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Week ending Oct 11: Very poor 0%, Poor 4%, Fair 27%, Good 61%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 69% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Harvest begins — week ending Aug 23Harvest begins−21 pts — week ending Sep 13−21 ptsJun 14Jul 5Jul 26Aug 16Sep 6Sep 27
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 69% good or excellent, week ending Oct 11. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2020

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

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20200%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 19: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending Apr 26: 1% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 1%)Planted, week ending May 3: 3% (5-yr avg 2%, last year 2%)Planted, week ending May 10: 6% (5-yr avg 6%, last year 10%)Planted, week ending May 17: 11% (5-yr avg 13%, last year 17%)Planted, week ending May 24: 17% (5-yr avg 24%, last year 30%)Planted, week ending May 31: 21% (5-yr avg 36%, last year 41%)Planted, week ending Jun 7: 41% (5-yr avg 50%, last year 51%)Planted, week ending Jun 14: 60% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 63%)Planted, week ending Jun 21: 69% (5-yr avg 79%, last year 73%)Planted, week ending Jun 28: 78% (5-yr avg 88%, last year 83%)Planted, week ending Jul 5: 91% (5-yr avg 94%, last year 90%)Planted, week ending Jul 12: 96% (5-yr avg 97%, last year 95%)Apr 19May 3May 17May 31Jun 14Jun 28Jul 12
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 96% as of Jul 12 (5-yr avg 97%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2020

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

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20200%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 23: 1% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 1%)Harvested, week ending Aug 30: 7% (5-yr avg 3%, last year 6%)Harvested, week ending Sep 6: 11% (5-yr avg 7%, last year 10%)Harvested, week ending Sep 13: 12% (5-yr avg 13%, last year 17%)Harvested, week ending Sep 20: 16% (5-yr avg 20%, last year 31%)Harvested, week ending Sep 27: 26% (5-yr avg 30%, last year 44%)Harvested, week ending Oct 4: 35% (5-yr avg 39%, last year 56%)Harvested, week ending Oct 11: 46% (5-yr avg 49%, last year 67%)Harvested, week ending Oct 18: 61% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 74%)Harvested, week ending Oct 25: 69% (5-yr avg 72%, last year 79%)Harvested, week ending Nov 1: 80% (5-yr avg 79%, last year 85%)Harvested, week ending Nov 8: 89% (5-yr avg 86%, last year 91%)Harvested, week ending Nov 15: 91% (5-yr avg 91%, last year 96%)Harvested, week ending Nov 22: 95% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Aug 23Sep 6Sep 20Oct 4Oct 18Nov 1Nov 15
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 95% as of Nov 22.

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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