Meeting the Demand for Organic Sweetpotato Production in the Great Plains and Midwest

Sweetpotatoes are nutritious, easily stored and marketed, well-adapted to organic production, and fit large or small farming operations. However, the Midwest and Great Plains are not traditional sweetpotato producing regions and availability of certified organic slips can be limiting. In 2006 the Kansas State University John C. Pair Horticultural Center initiated a program to produce and provide certified organic sweetpotato slips to growers throughout the state interested in growing sweetpotatoes. The goal of this outreach was to demonstrate sweetpotato as a viable vegetable crop in the state and provide the propagation material. The target audience was small organic farmers in Kansas marketing primarily at local farmers markets. Varieties offered in 2006 were ‘Beauregard’, ‘O’Henry’, and ‘NC Japanese’.  Slips were packaged and shipped at a cost of $0.06 per slip to offset the cost of production and shipping.  Farmers inexperienced with sweetpotatoes were hesitant and lacked confidence.  As a result only a few hundred slips were shipped.  Since 2006, farmer confidence has increased and sweetpotato production has dramatically increased across the region. In 2015 more than 90 farmers across 27 states ordered over 250,000 slips total, at $0.12 per slip.  Varieties offered include ‘Beauregard’, ‘O’Henry’, and ‘Murasaki’.  Sweetpotatoes are bedded in early April and covered with 5 cm of soil.  Clear plastic mulch is then placed over the beds. When emerging shoots reach the soil surface the plastic is removed and shoots are allowed to grow. By June 1 shoots have reached 25 cm in length. They are cut by hand, packed in boxes and shipped to their destination via UPS ground delivery service. Cutting and shipping occurs on the same day.  Once all orders have been filled, additional slips are cut and planted to produce sweetpotatoes for the following year’s crop of slips. Each year foundation seed is acquired from North Carolina and increased over two years to meet production goals. The crop is irrigated as needed and manual weeding is used to control weeds. Sweetpotatoes are harvested in early- to mid-September and cured and stored in a large insulated room until bedded in spring. Cover crops are employed to control weeds, improve soil organic matter, and reduce soil erosion. Funds received from the sale of slips are used to employ summer student workers and maintain equipment. Through this effort of providing certified organic slips annually, sweetpotato production across the region has dramatically increased.