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North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

USDA last rated the 2023 North Carolina sweet potato crop for the week ending Oct 8, when 47% was good or excellent, versus 66% at this point last year. Harvest stood at 98% complete (five-year average 91%). The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Oct 8, 2023

Good to excellent · last reading

47%of the crop

Share of the 2023 crop rated good or excellent for the week ending Oct 8.

▲

98%

Harvested

+7 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, 2023

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, 20230%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 18: Very poor 0%, Poor 3%, Fair 21%, Good 67%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 76% (5-yr avg 68%, last year 55%)Week ending Jun 25: Very poor 0%, Poor 5%, Fair 25%, Good 57%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 70% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 35%)Week ending Jul 2: Very poor 0%, Poor 5%, Fair 40%, Good 45%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 55% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 44%)Week ending Jul 9: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 48%, Good 42%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 51% (5-yr avg 68%, last year 51%)Week ending Jul 16: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 35%, Good 54%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 64% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 67%)Week ending Jul 23: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 41%, Good 54%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 59% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 67%)Week ending Jul 30: Very poor 2%, Poor 5%, Fair 42%, Good 51%, Excellent 0% — good+excellent 51% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 65%)Week ending Aug 6: Very poor 1%, Poor 7%, Fair 33%, Good 56%, Excellent 3% — good+excellent 59% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 58%)Week ending Aug 13: Very poor 4%, Poor 9%, Fair 39%, Good 45%, Excellent 3% — good+excellent 48% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 61%)Week ending Aug 20: Very poor 4%, Poor 14%, Fair 43%, Good 37%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 39% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 56%)Week ending Aug 27: Very poor 2%, Poor 11%, Fair 52%, Good 34%, Excellent 1% — good+excellent 35% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 51%)Week ending Sep 3: Very poor 3%, Poor 7%, Fair 56%, Good 33%, Excellent 1% — good+excellent 34% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 60%)Week ending Sep 10: Very poor 1%, Poor 4%, Fair 54%, Good 39%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 41% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 66%)Week ending Sep 17: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 59%, Good 37%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 39% (5-yr avg 55%, last year 69%)Week ending Sep 24: Very poor 0%, Poor 2%, Fair 56%, Good 40%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 42% (5-yr avg 52%, last year 58%)Week ending Oct 1: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 49%, Good 48%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 50% (5-yr avg —, last year 62%)Week ending Oct 8: Very poor 0%, Poor 2%, Fair 51%, Good 43%, Excellent 4% — good+excellent 47% (5-yr avg —, last year 66%)−15 pts — week ending Jul 2−15 ptsHarvest begins — week ending Aug 27Harvest beginsJun 18Jul 9Jul 30Aug 20Sep 10Oct 1
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 47% good or excellent, week ending Oct 8. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2023

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

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20230%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 23: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending Apr 30: 2% (5-yr avg 2%, last year 4%)Planted, week ending May 7: 4% (5-yr avg 5%, last year 9%)Planted, week ending May 14: 9% (5-yr avg 11%, last year 15%)Planted, week ending May 21: 15% (5-yr avg 20%, last year 26%)Planted, week ending May 28: 22% (5-yr avg 31%, last year 40%)Planted, week ending Jun 4: 34% (5-yr avg 43%, last year 57%)Planted, week ending Jun 11: 55% (5-yr avg 56%, last year 64%)Planted, week ending Jun 18: 70% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 67%)Planted, week ending Jun 25: 81% (5-yr avg 77%, last year 80%)Planted, week ending Jul 2: 91% (5-yr avg 87%, last year 89%)Planted, week ending Jul 9: 93% (5-yr avg 94%, last year 94%)Planted, week ending Jul 16: 95% (5-yr avg 97%, last year 96%)Apr 23May 7May 21Jun 4Jun 18Jul 2Jul 16
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 95% as of Jul 16 (5-yr avg 97%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2023

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

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20230%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 20: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Harvested, week ending Aug 27: 5% (5-yr avg 2%, last year 0%)Harvested, week ending Sep 3: 9% (5-yr avg 6%, last year 4%)Harvested, week ending Sep 10: 13% (5-yr avg 10%, last year 8%)Harvested, week ending Sep 17: 19% (5-yr avg 16%, last year 15%)Harvested, week ending Sep 24: 30% (5-yr avg 23%, last year 23%)Harvested, week ending Oct 1: 43% (5-yr avg 33%, last year 33%)Harvested, week ending Oct 8: 54% (5-yr avg 45%, last year 46%)Harvested, week ending Oct 15: 64% (5-yr avg 55%, last year 55%)Harvested, week ending Oct 22: 69% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 63%)Harvested, week ending Oct 29: 82% (5-yr avg 74%, last year 76%)Harvested, week ending Nov 5: 94% (5-yr avg 83%, last year 88%)Harvested, week ending Nov 12: 98% (5-yr avg 91%, last year 94%)Aug 20Sep 3Sep 17Oct 1Oct 15Oct 29Nov 12
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 98% as of Nov 12 (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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