North Carolina Sweet Potatoes crops

North Carolina-based sweet potato specialist Southern Produce is looking to close the book on a difficult 2018 and look to the future with several personnel changes.

2018 proved a tough year, as first Hurricane Florence dumped record breaking rain on North Carolina’s farmers and decreased supply, before hurricane Michael threatened the industry in the southern part of the US.

Then to add insult to injury, the state of Louisiana banned North Carolina sweet potatoes because of potential Guava Root Knot Nematode issues.

“The industry has felt the effects of the hurricane season, but our company is positioned to continue operations as usual and expand upon our financial restructure to better serve our farmers and our customers alike,' said the group's Randy Swartz. “Our restructure has allowed us to evolve and innovate on current industry best practices and future needs as well as hire key personnel to ensure we maintain the highest level of quality and customer care.”

Southern Produce recently promoted Brooke Crumpler as director of domestic sales and marketing, while Ashley Jach has been promoted to the director of international sales and processing.

Matt Dula has also recently joined the company in the capacity of business analyst.

'Everyone at Southern Produce is excited and looking forward to providing the best sweet potatoes the market has to offer at the same great levels of service and quality Southern Produce has been know for in the industry for over 76 years,' the group added.