Your Summer Potatoes
The farms of eastern North Carolina are situated alongside saltwater sounds and freshwater river beds. These locations ensure the soils are well nourished, the rainfall is ample, and the temperatures are moderate. These advantages combine to provide near perfect conditions for certain varieties of white, red, and yellow potatoes.
Completing Year-Round Programs
North Carolina farmers provide fresh potatoes when many other potato producing states aren’t quite ready to start their next season or have just finished their last. North Carolina potatoes are perfect for any retailer, foodservice, or chip company looking for fresh potatoes to complete its year-round potato program.
Fresh Potatoes
North Carolina potatoes are grown and sold in a variety of ways. You can find North Carolina potatoes in bulk or bagged on your grocery store shelf or even as potato chips. The best part about North Carolina potatoes is they are always fresh and never stored in a farmer’s warehouse. Any North Carolina potato on a grocer’s shelf or on its way to becoming a potato chip has rarely been out of the field more than two days.
For decades, a golf tournament has been part of the annual North Carolina Potato Association’s annual meeting.
For six weeks in summer the only place to get fresh white, yellow and red potatoes is North Carolina.
What does the produce industry have to do with the most famous game in NBA history? Ask potato man Dave Budd, which is what SPW Editor Chip Carter and Video Guru Jenni Kight did on a recent visit to the North Carolina Potato Association’s annual gathering in Elizabeth City, NC.
Everyone agrees that 2017 is one of The Tarheel State’s finest-ever summer potato crops.
The Produce News was along for the ride in 2016, and talked to buyers and growers about what makes a great North Carolina potato — and the people who keep the deal going and growing in importance.