sweetpotato

Apr 12, 2022

CALS Economist Joins the Fight to Curb the Effects of Invasive Nematode on Sweetpotatoes

Daniel Tregeagle will conduct an economic analysis to determine the costs of adopting new growing methods to stop the spread of the guava root-knot nematode.

Mar 2, 2022

“Sweet” Research at National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group Meeting

North Carolina’s sweetpotato production has surpassed every other state in the United States for the past 50 years despite increasing challenges like weather events, herbicide-resistant weeds and labor shortages.

Craig Yencho gives a presentation at a recent field day

Oct 29, 2021

Protecting Our State’s New Rural Cash Crop

The true profit potential of sweetpotatoes has been held back by an aggressive and invasive pest. NC State’s Craig Yencho will lead a $5 million grant-funded project to fight it.

A group photo of nine individuals, African and Caucasian in front of a store front in Kenya.

Jan 25, 2021

Small Business Administration Honors NC State Spinoff SinnovaTek

A growing Raleigh-based company is helping children in sub-Saharan Africa, where vitamin A deficiency is widespread.

Oct 27, 2020

Sweet Success With Sweetpotatoes

Sweetpotatoes are North Carolina's state vegetable, and they're not just for Thanksgiving anymore. Find out how North Carolina growers have positioned our state as the leader when it comes to production of this increasingly in-demand crop.

Three different varieties of sweetpotatoes with different skin colors.

Jul 10, 2020

‘Map’ of Sweetpotato Genome to Improve Breeding Efforts

NC State scientists recently published a scientific paper that mapped the genetic locations of economically important traits in sweetpotatoes such as higher yield and disease resistance. Their genetic map may lead to breeding better sweetpotatoes.

May 27, 2020

Big Data for Better Sweetpotatoes

An interdisciplinary team led by Cranos Williams is setting out on a three-year project to use artificial intelligence to make sweetpotatoes even more profitable. The team will image hundreds of thousands of sweetpotatoes to increase the percentage of sweetpotatoes grown that are USDA grade 1.

Craig Yencho and Bernard Yada ’14, Ph.D., survey sweetpotato vines at a research farm outside Kampala, Uganda.

May 4, 2020

NC State Researchers Continue Improving Sweetpotatoes for Africa

Craig Yencho and his team recently received part of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue their work improving sweetpotatoes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The genomic tools developed through the three-year, $15-million-dollar grant will also improve sweetpotato breeding for North Carolina farmers.

Jul 11, 2011

New use for N.C. sweet potatoes: Dried products for pet food, animal feed

North Carolina is the leading state when it comes to producing both sweet potatoes and tobacco, and a new N.C. State University research project is designed to build on both strengths to create new markets for farmers. The Sweet Potato Dehydration Project is exploring ways to use tobacco-curing barns to dry sweet potatoes for use in pet food and animal feed.

Mar 1, 2011

Sweetpotatoes

North Carolina is the nation’s top sweetpotato producer. The state’s growers produce 600 million pounds of sweetpotatoes annually, nearly half the sweetpotatoes produced in the U.S. In 2010, sweetpotatoes were worth more than $173 million to the state’s growers. Agricultural research and extension programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State…