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North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

USDA last rated the 2024 North Carolina sweet potato crop for the week ending Oct 13, when 60% was good or excellent. Harvest stood at 96% complete (five-year average 95%). The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Oct 13, 2024

Good to excellent · last reading

60%of the crop

Share of the 2024 crop rated good or excellent for the week ending Oct 13.

▲

96%

Harvested

+1 points against the five-year pace of 95%.

–

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, 2024

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, 20240%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 23: Very poor 2%, Poor 10%, Fair 41%, Good 42%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 47% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 70%)Week ending Jun 30: Very poor 2%, Poor 10%, Fair 50%, Good 36%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 38% (5-yr avg 66%, last year 55%)Week ending Jul 7: Very poor 3%, Poor 10%, Fair 49%, Good 36%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 38% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 51%)Week ending Jul 14: Very poor 2%, Poor 9%, Fair 44%, Good 43%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 45% (5-yr avg 67%, last year 64%)Week ending Jul 21: Very poor 0%, Poor 6%, Fair 33%, Good 55%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 61% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 59%)Week ending Jul 28: Very poor 1%, Poor 6%, Fair 31%, Good 55%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 62% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 51%)Week ending Aug 4: Very poor 0%, Poor 7%, Fair 41%, Good 45%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 52% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 59%)Week ending Aug 11: Very poor 8%, Poor 15%, Fair 29%, Good 48%, Excellent 0% — good+excellent 48% (5-yr avg 65%, last year 48%)Week ending Aug 18: Very poor 6%, Poor 11%, Fair 31%, Good 50%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 52% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 39%)Week ending Aug 25: Very poor 2%, Poor 13%, Fair 38%, Good 40%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 47% (5-yr avg 59%, last year 35%)Week ending Sep 1: Very poor 2%, Poor 14%, Fair 42%, Good 36%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 42% (5-yr avg 59%, last year 34%)Week ending Sep 8: Very poor 2%, Poor 14%, Fair 44%, Good 34%, Excellent 6% — good+excellent 40% (5-yr avg 56%, last year 41%)Week ending Sep 15: Very poor 1%, Poor 14%, Fair 45%, Good 33%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 40% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 39%)Week ending Sep 22: Very poor 0%, Poor 20%, Fair 47%, Good 33%, Excellent 0% — good+excellent 33% (5-yr avg 53%, last year 42%)Week ending Sep 29: Very poor 2%, Poor 18%, Fair 51%, Good 26%, Excellent 3% — good+excellent 29% (5-yr avg 59%, last year 50%)Week ending Oct 6: Very poor 0%, Poor 9%, Fair 45%, Good 39%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 46% (5-yr avg —, last year 47%)Week ending Oct 13: Very poor 3%, Poor 5%, Fair 32%, Good 53%, Excellent 7% — good+excellent 60% (5-yr avg —, last year —)−10 pts — week ending Aug 4−10 ptsHarvest begins — week ending Aug 25Harvest beginsJun 23Jul 14Aug 4Aug 25Sep 15Oct 6
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 60% good or excellent, week ending Oct 13. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2024

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

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20240%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 21: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending Apr 28: 1% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 1%)Planted, week ending May 5: 2% (5-yr avg 4%, last year 3%)Planted, week ending May 12: 6% (5-yr avg 10%, last year 8%)Planted, week ending May 19: 10% (5-yr avg 16%, last year 13%)Planted, week ending May 26: 19% (5-yr avg 25%, last year 20%)Planted, week ending Jun 2: 25% (5-yr avg 36%, last year 31%)Planted, week ending Jun 9: 34% (5-yr avg 50%, last year 49%)Planted, week ending Jun 16: 51% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 66%)Planted, week ending Jun 23: 67% (5-yr avg 73%, last year 78%)Planted, week ending Jun 30: 79% (5-yr avg 83%, last year 88%)Planted, week ending Jul 7: 84% (5-yr avg 92%, last year 92%)Planted, week ending Jul 14: 95% (5-yr avg 95%, last year 94%)Apr 21May 5May 19Jun 2Jun 16Jun 30Jul 14
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 95% as of Jul 14 (5-yr avg 95%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2024

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

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20240%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 18: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Harvested, week ending Aug 25: 1% (5-yr avg 2%, last year 4%)Harvested, week ending Sep 1: 4% (5-yr avg 6%, last year 8%)Harvested, week ending Sep 8: 8% (5-yr avg 10%, last year 12%)Harvested, week ending Sep 15: 12% (5-yr avg 15%, last year 17%)Harvested, week ending Sep 22: 24% (5-yr avg 23%, last year 27%)Harvested, week ending Sep 29: 31% (5-yr avg 33%, last year 39%)Harvested, week ending Oct 6: 41% (5-yr avg 44%, last year 51%)Harvested, week ending Oct 13: 54% (5-yr avg 55%, last year 61%)Harvested, week ending Oct 20: 64% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 68%)Harvested, week ending Oct 27: 76% (5-yr avg 73%, last year 78%)Harvested, week ending Nov 3: 84% (5-yr avg 83%, last year 91%)Harvested, week ending Nov 10: 89% (5-yr avg 91%, last year 97%)Harvested, week ending Nov 17: 96% (5-yr avg 95%, last year 99%)Aug 18Sep 1Sep 15Sep 29Oct 13Oct 27Nov 10
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 96% as of Nov 17 (5-yr avg 95%).

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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