Discovering NC Agriculture is a year-long series focusing on twelve N.C. grown, raised, caught, and made commodities. Tune in each month to see how an N.C. commodity is grown, harvested, packed for consumer use and more. Learn nutritional value, find fun recipes to try, hear from local chefs who use that product, and other unique commodity facts throughout the series. We look forward to helping you better understand some of our N.C. commodities and how they impact your everyday lives!
Sweet potatoes have a long history and heritage of being grown in our state, and J. Roland Wood Farms of Benson has been growing them for over 50 years! From packing and shipping just a few sweet potatoes domestically, to now shipping year-round all over the world, J. Roland Wood Farms continues to be a major player in the sweet potato industry of North Carolina.
In 1967, J. Roland Wood Farms was started by high-school sweethearts Roland and Winifred Wood. “My mom and dad both grew up on the farm, my mother working with sweet potatoes and my father raising tobacco,” said Michael Wood, Grower/Vice President & Operations Manager. “They both loved farming and established the legacy that we have today.” Winifred passed away in 2019, but Roland continues to work on the farm today. In fact, Roland is one of the oldest men in our state to still own his sweet potato packing operation!
Since its inception, J. Roland Wood Farms has continued to grow in acreage, customer base, and crop production. In fact, today they harvest 1,500 acres of sweet potatoes in addition to other crops, like tobacco and soybeans. “In 2017, we built a new packing facility that has allowed us to quadruple our sweet potato production,” said Taylor Hill, marketing manager. “This opportunity allowed us to continue shipping our sweet potatoes year-round, as well as venture into the export business by shipping out sweet potatoes to the United Kingdom and Europe.” All sweet potatoes grown at J. Roland Wood Farms are the Covington variety, which is an orange skin, orange flesh variety.
Growing sweet potatoes is a year-round process at J. Roland Wood Farms, which means there isn’t a moment where the family and staff aren’t thinking about the vegetable. “At the start of the year, our sweet potato seed is stored until we start the bedding process in March,” Michael said. The seed potatoes produce slips from the beds that are then transplanted from mid-May until the latter part of June. After transplanting, the slips are planted in the ground, usually around late June, and left to grow. Sweet potato slips spend roughly 90 to 100 days in the ground from planting to harvest each year. Once August hits, harvest begins hot and heavy on the farm. “Harvest season usually lasts from August through early November,” said Michael. “People don’t realize how labor intensive the process is, because all sweet potatoes in this state are picked by hand. We have a hard-working group of guys who make sweet potato harvest possible each year.” After the sweet potatoes are harvested from the field, they are taken into the state-of-the-art packing facility.
Sweet potatoes must be cured for four to six weeks after coming into the packing facility before they can be graded and shipped. This process involves keeping the sweet potatoes dry and out of direct light. For the first few days, the sweet potatoes are kept between temperatures of 80-and 85-degrees Fahrenheit, then they must be cooled down to 55-to 60-degrees Fahrenheit for the remainder of the curing process. “The curing process helps to ensure the longevity and flavor of the sweet potatoes,” Michael said. “Once the potatoes have been cured, we run them on our packing line to be sorted and graded by size.” Fun fact, sweet potatoes can actually last for up to one year in storage, making them the perfect year-round crop for farmers like Michael and his family.
J. Roland Wood Farms offers several brands of their sweet potatoes to customers: Big Daddy Jumbos, Little Mikes, Suzy Supremes, Wood Farms brand, and microwaves. “All of our brands are named after a member of the family,” Taylor said. “For example, the Little Mike brand is named after Michael, who not only manages all the growing, but packing of our sweet potatoes as well.” All sweet potatoes from J. Roland Woods Farm are sold to independent grocery stores and restaurants across our state.
“Sweet potatoes are not only a good crop for our state’s agriculture industry due to their ability to rotate with other crops, like tobacco,” Taylor said, “but they also are vital support for our economy year-round.” Although they love to eat sweet potatoes in a variety of ways, Taylor enjoys a sweet potato casserole best, and Michael loves to eat sweet potato fries. We are so proud of the heritage and legacy that continues to grow and develop at J. Roland Wood Farms. Thank you, Wood family, for all that you do. We can’t wait to see the future of your farm continue to grow!
