Sweet potato farmers taking advantage of fall weather for harvesting

Demand is still good for the crop, which has long been the root of Calhoun County's farm economy.

CALHOUN COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Some folks think of this as Pumpkin Spice Season, but in Mississippi, it’s Sweet Potato Season.

Sweet potato farmers across North Mississippi are taking advantage of the Fall-like weather to begin this year’s harvest.

Demand is still good for the crop, which has long been the root of Calhoun County’s farm economy.

But this year’s supply may suffer from what might be considered too much of a good thing.

“The harvest is going to be, from what I am hearing from a lot of our growers, is that it is going to be a fair crop. It’s a little too early to tell, because we are seeing a lot of impact from early June rains we had. My gauges show we got probably 30 inches of rain, but it’s too early to tell how the whole crop is going to turn out as a whole,” said Caleb Englart, President of the Sweet Potato Council.

According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, the Beauregard is the leading commercially grown sweet potato variety in the state.