ProduceWire ProduceWire

North Carolina · crop watch

North Carolina sweet potato crop

USDA last rated the 2025 North Carolina sweet potato crop for the week ending Sep 28, when 45% was good or excellent, 10 points below the five-year average of 55%, versus 29% at this point last year. Harvest stood at 98% complete (five-year average 97%). The 2025 crop finished at 18.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Sep 28, 2025

Good to excellent · last reading

45%of the crop

10 points below the five-year average for this week, and 29% a year ago.

▲

98%

Harvested

+1 points against the five-year pace of 97%.

–

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, 2025

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, 20250%25%50%75%100%Week ending Jun 15: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 17%, Good 68%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 83% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Week ending Jun 22: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 17%, Good 68%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 83% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 47%)Week ending Jun 29: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 17%, Good 67%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 82% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 38%)Week ending Jul 6: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 32%, Good 52%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 67% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 38%)Week ending Jul 13: Very poor 0%, Poor 5%, Fair 23%, Good 53%, Excellent 19% — good+excellent 72% (5-yr avg 62%, last year 45%)Week ending Jul 20: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 20%, Good 56%, Excellent 24% — good+excellent 80% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 61%)Week ending Jul 27: Very poor 0%, Poor 2%, Fair 25%, Good 50%, Excellent 23% — good+excellent 73% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 62%)Week ending Aug 3: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 42%, Good 44%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 57% (5-yr avg 64%, last year 52%)Week ending Aug 10: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 35%, Good 44%, Excellent 20% — good+excellent 64% (5-yr avg 61%, last year 48%)Week ending Aug 17: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 17%, Good 60%, Excellent 21% — good+excellent 81% (5-yr avg 60%, last year 52%)Week ending Aug 24: Very poor 0%, Poor 4%, Fair 17%, Good 64%, Excellent 15% — good+excellent 79% (5-yr avg 57%, last year 47%)Week ending Aug 31: Very poor 1%, Poor 2%, Fair 20%, Good 63%, Excellent 14% — good+excellent 77% (5-yr avg 56%, last year 42%)Week ending Sep 7: Very poor 2%, Poor 2%, Fair 21%, Good 65%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 75% (5-yr avg 54%, last year 40%)Week ending Sep 14: Very poor 2%, Poor 5%, Fair 22%, Good 62%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 71% (5-yr avg 54%, last year 40%)Week ending Sep 21: Very poor 3%, Poor 9%, Fair 44%, Good 35%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 44% (5-yr avg 50%, last year 33%)Week ending Sep 28: Very poor 3%, Poor 8%, Fair 44%, Good 36%, Excellent 9% — good+excellent 45% (5-yr avg 55%, last year 29%)Harvest begins — week ending Aug 17Harvest begins−27 pts — week ending Sep 21−27 ptsJun 15Jun 29Jul 13Jul 27Aug 10Aug 24Sep 7Sep 21
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 45% good or excellent, week ending Sep 28. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2025

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

North Carolina sweet potato planted, 20250%50%100%Planted, week ending Apr 20: 0% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Planted, week ending Apr 27: 2% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 1%)Planted, week ending May 4: 3% (5-yr avg 4%, last year 2%)Planted, week ending May 11: 10% (5-yr avg 8%, last year 5%)Planted, week ending May 18: 13% (5-yr avg 13%, last year 9%)Planted, week ending May 25: 28% (5-yr avg 21%, last year 18%)Planted, week ending Jun 1: 34% (5-yr avg 31%, last year 24%)Planted, week ending Jun 8: 48% (5-yr avg 44%, last year 33%)Planted, week ending Jun 15: 64% (5-yr avg 58%, last year 49%)Planted, week ending Jun 22: 75% (5-yr avg 69%, last year 65%)Planted, week ending Jun 29: 87% (5-yr avg 80%, last year 77%)Planted, week ending Jul 6: 93% (5-yr avg 89%, last year 83%)Planted, week ending Jul 13: 97% (5-yr avg 95%, last year 93%)Apr 20May 4May 18Jun 1Jun 15Jun 29Jul 13
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 97% as of Jul 13 (5-yr avg 95%).

Field progress

Harvested, 2025

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

North Carolina sweet potato harvested, 20250%50%100%Harvested, week ending Aug 17: 1% (5-yr avg 0%, last year 0%)Harvested, week ending Aug 24: 5% (5-yr avg 1%, last year 1%)Harvested, week ending Aug 31: 11% (5-yr avg 5%, last year 4%)Harvested, week ending Sep 7: 16% (5-yr avg 8%, last year 7%)Harvested, week ending Sep 14: 27% (5-yr avg 12%, last year 11%)Harvested, week ending Sep 21: 36% (5-yr avg 20%, last year 22%)Harvested, week ending Sep 28: 46% (5-yr avg 29%, last year 30%)Harvested, week ending Nov 16: 94% (5-yr avg 94%, last year 95%)Harvested, week ending Nov 23: 98% (5-yr avg 97%, last year 97%)Aug 17Aug 31Sep 14Sep 28Nov 23
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 98% as of Nov 23 (5-yr avg 97%).

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 →