December 2025 - Sweetpotato Speak

LETTER from the

Executive Director

Dear Members of the NC Sweetpotato Commission,

By the time you receive this issue of Sweetpotato Speak, Thanksgiving 2025 will have just passed, and everyone will be focused on Christmas as well as planning for the 2026 season. I am writing this letter to you to tell how much we at the Commission respects you and all of the hard work and sacrifices you and your family make to ensure that this time every year there are beautiful sweetpotatoes available to be served on tables across the country. We take this respect to heart every single day as we work to not only increase consumer consumption of the NC sweetpotato, but in all of our other endeavors we engage in on behalf of the industry. An activity that has kept me particularly focused over the last 18 months, is that related to labor and the challenges of the H-2A program, specifically those related to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) rates and the Farm Labor Survey (FLS). Since we last together at the Annual Meeting of Members in Goldsboro in January 2025, many changes have taken place in this space. In an effort to provide you a snapshot of just a few of these activities, I have captured them in a timeline (of sorts) with an abbreviated explanation below. August 2024: FOIA Coalition formed in partnership with the Ga Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) This coalition was formed to represent growers and crops across numerous states with the intention of filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the USDA to be provided transparency in how the Farm Labor Survey (FLS) is used and the AEWR rate is ultimately calculated.

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