Market Update

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices on 40-pound cartons of Mississippi orange-type sweet potatoes from the 2007 crop:

U.S. No. 1, mostly $15-16.50; petite, mostly $10-11; U.S. No. 2, $8-9.

* Prices from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Market News, Sept. 8.

The Shipping Scene

Thanksgiving is more than two months away, but grower-shippers say there's no need to wait to stock Mississippi sweet potatoes. Plenty of cured product still is available from the 2007 crop, and the 2008 harvest is just getting under way.

Rain showers have prevented the harvest from Shadbourn, N.C.-based Wayne E. Bailey Produce Co. from really taking off at the firm's Bruce, Miss., operation, said president George Wooten. But the delay shouldn't last long.

"Next week, things should be in full force," he said Sept. 10.

The company's acreage is down slightly, but yields should be the same as last year, and the quality looks good.

"We should have plenty of cured potatoes for Thanksgiving," he said.

Potatoes go directly from field to storage, where they're allowed to cure for four to six weeks as the starches turn to sugar.

Ideally, enough cured potatoes will be on hand from the 2007 crop to cover orders until this year's potatoes are ready to be shipped.

"We're trying to ship cured sweet potatoes year-round," Wooten said.

Although November sales account for up to 25% of the company's sweet potato business, year-round movement definitely is up, he said. November sales used to make up as much as 40% of annual sales.

The company sells most of its sweet potatoes in 40-pound boxes, but they're also available in 3- and 5-pound consumer bags, 10-pound club store bags and reusable plastic containers.

During the holidays, they're sold in floor-ready bulk bins as well.

Rain also has slowed the harvest significantly for N&W Farms Produce Inc., Vardaman, Miss.

"Very little harvesting has been done so far," said Randle Wright, one of the company's owners.

Harvesting usually starts in late August or early September, but as of Sept. 9, the company was able to spend less than two days digging, and forecasts called for up to a 60% chance of rain through Saturday.

The harvest usually runs for two months steady .

"(The rain) will put us behind on harvesting," Wright said.

How much, if any, damage the rain caused will be difficult to determine until crews get back into the fields.

The quality and size look good for the potatoes that already have been harvested, he said.

Weather turned dry from mid- to late June - the latter part of the planting period - but the rest of the summer received more rain than usual, Wright said.

Acreage is about the same as last year at Jeff Sullivan Farms, Bruce, Miss., said owner Jeff Sullivan.

Although growing conditions were good during the summer with no extreme temperatures and "rain when we needed it," Sullivan wasn't ready to make a prediction about this year's crop.

"You never know about a sweet potato until you get it in the house," he said.

The company started harvesting around Sept. 3, and quality looked good, though early potatoes were a bit small. By mid-September, sizing should be normal, he said.

Growers seemed to be taking their time harvesting this year.

"Sometimes you rush when you're out of potatoes," Sullivan said. But since plenty of tubers remained in storage, "No one is rushing this year."

He expected decent prices, but he said prices could depend on whether Louisiana's crop suffers damage from hurricane-spawned rainstorms.

Sweet potato acreage might be down about 500 acres in Mississippi this year, but that shouldn't affect supplies, said Benny Graves, executive secretary for the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council.

In 2007, the state's growers produced 3.5 million hundredweight.

The council will promote Mississippi sweet potatoes from its booth at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit International Convention and Exposition in Orlando, Fla., in October.

The council also plans to run radio advertising in Mississippi and surrounding states, take out trade advertising and conduct a direct-mail project for buyers.

(By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)