ProduceWire ProduceWire

North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

USDA last rated the 2021 North Carolina sweet potato crop for the week ending Oct 17, when 82% was good or excellent. Harvest stood at 95% complete (five-year average 96%). The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Oct 17, 2021

Good to excellent · last reading

82%of the crop

Share of the 2021 crop rated good or excellent for the week ending Oct 17.

▼

95%

Harvested

−1 points against the five-year pace of 96%.

–

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, 2021

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, 20210%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 20: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 29%, Good 58%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 71% (5-yr avg 72%, last year 82%)Week ending Jun 27: Very poor 1%, Poor 0%, Fair 24%, Good 61%, Excellent 14% — good+excellent 75% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 76%)Week ending Jul 4: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 18%, Good 67%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 82% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 78%)Week ending Jul 11: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 18%, Good 68%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 81% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 82%)Week ending Jul 18: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 35%, Good 54%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 65% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 70%)Week ending Jul 25: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 28%, Good 61%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 72% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 62%)Week ending Aug 1: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 26%, Good 63%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 74% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 65%)Week ending Aug 8: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 19%, Good 67%, Excellent 14% — good+excellent 81% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 70%)Week ending Aug 15: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 18%, Good 68%, Excellent 14% — good+excellent 82% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 72%)Week ending Aug 22: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 24%, Good 64%, Excellent 12% — good+excellent 76% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 75%)Week ending Aug 29: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 25%, Good 64%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 74% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 78%)Week ending Sep 5: Very poor 2%, Poor 6%, Fair 28%, Good 61%, Excellent 3% — good+excellent 64% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 74%)Week ending Sep 12: Very poor 2%, Poor 5%, Fair 21%, Good 67%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 72% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 53%)Week ending Sep 19: Very poor 3%, Poor 7%, Fair 25%, Good 59%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 65% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 60%)Week ending Sep 26: Very poor 3%, Poor 6%, Fair 30%, Good 55%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 61% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 54%)Week ending Oct 3: Very poor 4%, Poor 5%, Fair 25%, Good 59%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 66% (5-yr avg —, last year 63%)Week ending Oct 10: Very poor 3%, Poor 4%, Fair 22%, Good 62%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 71% (5-yr avg —, last year 69%)Week ending Oct 17: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 18%, Good 74%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 82% (5-yr avg —, last year —)−16 pts — week ending Jul 18−16 ptsHarvest begins — week ending Aug 29Harvest beginsJun 20Jul 11Aug 1Aug 22Sep 12Oct 3
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 82% good or excellent, week ending Oct 17. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2021

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

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20210%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 18: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending Apr 25: 0% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 1%)Planted, week ending May 2: 1% (5-yr avg 2%, last year 3%)Planted, week ending May 9: 6% (5-yr avg 6%, last year 6%)Planted, week ending May 16: 10% (5-yr avg 13%, last year 10%)Planted, week ending May 23: 14% (5-yr avg 22%, last year 16%)Planted, week ending May 30: 24% (5-yr avg 34%, last year 20%)Planted, week ending Jun 6: 33% (5-yr avg 47%, last year 38%)Planted, week ending Jun 13: 45% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 57%)Planted, week ending Jun 20: 58% (5-yr avg 77%, last year 68%)Planted, week ending Jun 27: 67% (5-yr avg 85%, last year 77%)Planted, week ending Jul 4: 84% (5-yr avg 93%, last year 89%)Planted, week ending Jul 11: 93% (5-yr avg 96%, last year 95%)Planted, week ending Jul 18: 96% (5-yr avg 98%, last year 98%)Planted, week ending Jul 25: 99% (5-yr avg 99%, last year 99%)Apr 18May 2May 16May 30Jun 13Jun 27Jul 11Jul 25
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 99% as of Jul 25 (5-yr avg 99%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2021

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

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20210%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 29: 1% (5-yr avg 3%, last year 6%)Harvested, week ending Sep 5: 5% (5-yr avg 8%, last year 10%)Harvested, week ending Sep 12: 9% (5-yr avg 13%, last year 12%)Harvested, week ending Sep 19: 13% (5-yr avg 19%, last year 15%)Harvested, week ending Sep 26: 18% (5-yr avg 29%, last year 25%)Harvested, week ending Oct 3: 28% (5-yr avg 39%, last year 34%)Harvested, week ending Oct 10: 36% (5-yr avg 49%, last year 44%)Harvested, week ending Oct 17: 46% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 59%)Harvested, week ending Oct 24: 56% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 68%)Harvested, week ending Oct 31: 65% (5-yr avg 80%, last year 78%)Harvested, week ending Nov 7: 77% (5-yr avg 88%, last year 88%)Harvested, week ending Nov 14: 88% (5-yr avg 93%, last year 91%)Harvested, week ending Nov 21: 95% (5-yr avg 96%, last year 94%)Aug 29Sep 12Sep 26Oct 10Oct 24Nov 7Nov 21
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 95% as of Nov 21 (5-yr avg 96%).

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

Get the Weekly Market Brief

Price moves, freight signals, and the produce stories that matter — one email, every week. Built for buyers, category managers, and brokers.

Subscribe free →