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Sweet potatoes are going to cost more this Thanksgiving, NC farmers warn

Sweet potato farmers in North Carolina -- which produce more than 40% of the national supply of sweet potatoes -- are struggling to pay rising labor costs, fighting against backlogs and strained by a shortage of workers.

Posted Updated

By
Bryan Mims
, WRAL reporter
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — Sweet potato farmers in North Carolina — which produce more than 40% of the national supply of sweet potatoes — are struggling to pay rising labor costs, fighting against backlogs and strained by a shortage of workers.

Due to supply chain issues, Thanksgiving dinner is already expected to be expensive. Some reports suggest the average cost of the traditional Thanksgiving meal could reach a record.

Because sweet potatoes have thin skin, they have to be harvested by hand, according to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission. Last year, North Carolina sweet potato sales generated more than $375 million.

But this year, there aren't enough workers to transport the potatoes.

Nancy Torres, operations manager for Battleboro Produce near Rocky Mount, said that there aren't enough people to drive trucks that carry the potatoes to the stores and ports.

"We've never had this problem before," Torres said. "This is the first year we are having these kinds of issues."

Torres said her potatoes are trucked in from local farms, washed and packaged. She said while the cost of sweet potatoes is around the same — $14 for a 40-pound box — labor is more expensive.

The cost of fuel, freight and other expenses are also rising, she said.

Battleboro Produce is one of the shipping locations for Wada Farms, which has offices in Raleigh.

Norman Brown, director of sweet potato sales for Wada Farms in Raleigh, said he is paying truckers nearly twice as much as usual to haul the potatoes across the country.

“I never seen anything like it, and I’ve been running sweet potatoes for 38 or 39 years,” Brown told the New York Times.

Brown said these rising costs are going to be passed onto the consumer.

"There's not enough drivers in the seats," he told WRAL News. "There's more product out there than transportation."

Battleboro Produce has been struggling with a backlog of trucks, Brown said. It's been difficult organizing pick-ups with as much supply as they have.

Andy Jordan, a truck driver, was just hired to haul potatoes from Battleboro Produce. He said that long-haul drivers are in short supply, and they are desperately needed.

"Many of them take them to the port, and they get on the boat and go overseas," Jordan said.

Once at the port, it now costs around 80% more to transport the sweet potatoes overseas compared to last year.

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