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North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

USDA last rated the 2022 North Carolina sweet potato crop for the week ending Oct 16, when 63% was good or excellent, versus 82% at this point last year. Harvest stood at 95% complete (five-year average 91%). The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Oct 16, 2022

Good to excellent · last reading

63%of the crop

Share of the 2022 crop rated good or excellent for the week ending Oct 16.

▲

95%

Harvested

+4 points against the five-year pace of 91%.

–

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, 2022

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, 20220%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 5: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 48%, Good 43%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 52% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Week ending Jun 12: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 33%, Good 67%, Excellent 0% — good+excellent 67% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Week ending Jun 19: Very poor 0%, Poor 10%, Fair 35%, Good 52%, Excellent 3% — good+excellent 55% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 71%)Week ending Jun 26: Very poor 1%, Poor 22%, Fair 42%, Good 31%, Excellent 4% — good+excellent 35% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 75%)Week ending Jul 3: Very poor 2%, Poor 6%, Fair 48%, Good 40%, Excellent 4% — good+excellent 44% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 82%)Week ending Jul 10: Very poor 2%, Poor 11%, Fair 36%, Good 45%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 51% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 81%)Week ending Jul 17: Very poor 1%, Poor 9%, Fair 23%, Good 57%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 67% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 65%)Week ending Jul 24: Very poor 0%, Poor 11%, Fair 22%, Good 57%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 67% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 72%)Week ending Jul 31: Very poor 0%, Poor 9%, Fair 26%, Good 54%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 65% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 74%)Week ending Aug 7: Very poor 1%, Poor 13%, Fair 28%, Good 49%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 58% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 81%)Week ending Aug 14: Very poor 0%, Poor 10%, Fair 29%, Good 57%, Excellent 4% — good+excellent 61% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 82%)Week ending Aug 21: Very poor 0%, Poor 7%, Fair 37%, Good 48%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 56% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 76%)Week ending Aug 28: Very poor 0%, Poor 5%, Fair 44%, Good 45%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 51% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 74%)Week ending Sep 4: Very poor 0%, Poor 6%, Fair 34%, Good 56%, Excellent 4% — good+excellent 60% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 64%)Week ending Sep 11: Very poor 0%, Poor 6%, Fair 28%, Good 62%, Excellent 4% — good+excellent 66% (5-yr avg 58%, last year 72%)Week ending Sep 18: Very poor 0%, Poor 3%, Fair 28%, Good 63%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 69% (5-yr avg 56%, last year 65%)Week ending Sep 25: Very poor 4%, Poor 8%, Fair 30%, Good 50%, Excellent 8% — good+excellent 58% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 61%)Week ending Oct 2: Very poor 1%, Poor 5%, Fair 32%, Good 57%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 62% (5-yr avg —, last year 66%)Week ending Oct 9: Very poor 1%, Poor 5%, Fair 28%, Good 60%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 66% (5-yr avg —, last year 71%)Week ending Oct 16: Very poor 1%, Poor 6%, Fair 30%, Good 60%, Excellent 3% — good+excellent 63% (5-yr avg —, last year 82%)−20 pts — week ending Jun 26−20 ptsHarvest begins — week ending Sep 4Harvest beginsJun 5Jun 26Jul 17Aug 7Aug 28Sep 18Oct 9
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 63% good or excellent, week ending Oct 16. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2022

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

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20220%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 24: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending May 1: 5% (5-yr avg 2%, last year 1%)Planted, week ending May 8: 10% (5-yr avg 6%, last year 5%)Planted, week ending May 15: 16% (5-yr avg 12%, last year 9%)Planted, week ending May 22: 28% (5-yr avg 19%, last year 13%)Planted, week ending May 29: 42% (5-yr avg 29%, last year 23%)Planted, week ending Jun 5: 60% (5-yr avg 42%, last year 32%)Planted, week ending Jun 12: 65% (5-yr avg 58%, last year 43%)Planted, week ending Jun 19: 67% (5-yr avg 71%, last year 56%)Planted, week ending Jun 26: 82% (5-yr avg 80%, last year 66%)Planted, week ending Jul 3: 90% (5-yr avg 89%, last year 82%)Planted, week ending Jul 10: 95% (5-yr avg 95%, last year 92%)Apr 24May 8May 22Jun 5Jun 19Jul 3
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 95% as of Jul 10 (5-yr avg 95%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2022

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

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20220%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 28: 0% (5-yr avg 3%, last year 1%)Harvested, week ending Sep 4: 5% (5-yr avg 7%, last year 4%)Harvested, week ending Sep 11: 8% (5-yr avg 11%, last year 8%)Harvested, week ending Sep 18: 16% (5-yr avg 16%, last year 12%)Harvested, week ending Sep 25: 24% (5-yr avg 26%, last year 17%)Harvested, week ending Oct 2: 34% (5-yr avg 36%, last year 27%)Harvested, week ending Oct 9: 48% (5-yr avg 47%, last year 35%)Harvested, week ending Oct 16: 56% (5-yr avg 59%, last year 45%)Harvested, week ending Oct 23: 64% (5-yr avg 68%, last year 55%)Harvested, week ending Oct 30: 78% (5-yr avg 76%, last year 64%)Harvested, week ending Nov 6: 90% (5-yr avg 85%, last year 75%)Harvested, week ending Nov 13: 95% (5-yr avg 91%, last year 86%)Aug 28Sep 11Sep 25Oct 9Oct 23Nov 6
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 95% as of Nov 13 (5-yr avg 91%).

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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