The AUTM Better World Project Recognizes NC State Sweet Potato As A Preferred Variety

Traditionally served just once a year on American’s Thanksgiving Day dinner tables, sweet potatoes are starting to pop up everywhere, from pancakes and salsa to fine dining and fast food restaurant menus.

Reaping the benefits of the vegetable’s growing popularity — and a superior variety of the root vegetable called the Covington — are North Carolina farmers, who began planting the new sweet potato released by the  Sweetpotato Breeding and Genetics Program at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2005.

With higher yields, a longer grocery shelf life and a uniform size, the Covington has become a preferred variety of farmers, wholesalers and retailers.