Source: NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 10/29/21


Sweetpotato acreage in America has been growing in recent years, particularly in North Carolina, which is by far America’s largest producer of sweetpotatoes. This expansion is making an advantageous impact on some of the traditionally less advantaged counties in the state as some of the row crop acreage gives way to sweetpotatoes and other specialty crops.

NC State’s Craig Yencho, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Horticulture, has been one of the leading researchers stimulating this specialty crop’s growth – and, in turn, North Carolina’s agricultural economy. Yencho helped develop the now-widely-grown Covington variety of sweetpotato: one of the reasons why North Carolina is the top producer of sweetpotatoes in the nation, commanding 61% of the total U.S. sweetpotato production in 2019. 

Since Covington’s introduction in 2005, it has become the state’s top variety, currently grown on roughly 85% of the state’s 105,000-plus sweetpotato acres. Most of that acreage is in rural counties, delivering a $324 million annual impact to communities that need it most. 

In recent years, however, the sweetpotato’s true potential for profit has been held back by an invasive and highly aggressive pest called the guava root-knot nematode. These small parasitic worms living in the soil latch onto the roots of sweetpotatoes and, over time, degrade the crop’s quality to the point where it’s too worthless to harvest. 

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