North Carolina SweetPotatoes Markets Division North Carolina ranks first in the production of this very nutritious vegetable. Approximately 36,000 acres are grown in the state. North Carolina growers produce nearly forty percent of the total U.S. production.
Production is mostly limited to the coastal plain.
Johnston, Wilson, and Nash are the top three counties in terms of sweetpotato acreage. In North Carolina, Sweetpotato is written as one word, as opposed to the usual two words. Industry leaders felt the one word spelling would help in differentiating between the sweetpotato and the Irish potato. The southern sweetpotato is a root and the Irish potato is a tuber. The potato is a completely different plant, not even a distant cousin.