Foothill Sweet Potato Alliance

Below, you will find the full details of an announcement that is in today's Stokes News. The Foothill Sweet Potato Alliance has announced an exclusive agreement with The Fresh Market chain of stores to sell their product. This agreement opens the doors for local products to gain a national market. While this is very important to the farmers that are involved in the program and major kudos should be given to Russel Slate for driving this to completion, this could just be the tip of the ice-berg. Just think of the other products that we can produce for not just the triad, but the nation. I applaud our local farmers and everyone that is working to help the economy in Stokes County grow:

Foothill Sweet Potato Alliance announces important agreement
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Russel Slate, locally known as “Pa Tater,” has realized a dream. After many years of product development and promotion, he has taken locally grown sweet potatoes to a national market.The Foothill Sweet Potato Alliance has signed an exclusive agreement to produce the vegetable for The Fresh Market chain of stores. In an area that has a strong attachment to agriculture and has been dependent on tobacco as its main cash crop, a new alternative has started to emerge: The Sweet Potato.Growers from six counties—Stokes, Surry, Rockingham, Yadkin, Guilford and Forsyth—have crops in the ground covering from half an acre to 35 acres each and have already started limited delivery of the product to the stores. The 54 growers have planted over two million plants and expect to harvest over two million pounds of the vegetable later this summer and fall.The alliance has four varieties of potatoes that will be on the grocer’s shelves: Stokes Purple (a locally patented product), Beauregard (the industry standard), O-Henry (a white mutation of the Beauregard) and the Foothill Choice (developed in the foothill region to take advantage of our unique soil and growing conditions). These varieties were selected because each has distinctive flavors and uses. The potatoes will be carried in designated The Fresh Market stores, most of which are located east of the Mississippi River.The potatoes will be harvested and delivered to a warehouse in Walnut Cove. There they will be stored in a temperature controlled environment. They will then be sorted by size and quality, boxed and picked up for delivery to The Fresh Market stores. This agreement will create approximately 12 new jobs in Stokes County, as well as provide much needed revenue for local farmers and utilize a building that has been vacant.North Carolina has long been recognized as the leader in sweet potato production in the United States, and for the last five years, this region has won the top award in the sweet potato division in the N. C. State Agriculture Fair for producing the “State Champion” sweet potato. This is due to the combination of climate and soil conditions that give the already nutrient rich potatoes a distinctive flavor that helped make this agreement a reality.Slate was extremely pleased with the agreement and stated, “This is not about me. This is about the opportunity to help local farmers. I think we can continue to make this project grow and have an even bigger impact on the local economy.” Slate has been working for over 18 years to make this dream a reality.The news was also well received by Stokes County Board of County Commissioners’ Chairman Leon Inman, “Any time we can create jobs and add to the income of our local farmers, it is a winner. This is a wonderful example of diversification in our farm community. I wish them the best of luck in this endeavor.”Though the sweet potato has been a staple in southern diets for many years, it seems to be becoming more of a favorite due to its healthy reputation. In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.Sweet potato varieties with dark orange flesh have more beta carotene than those with light-colored flesh, and their increased cultivation is being encouraged in Africa where Vitamin A deficiency is a serious health problem. Despite the name “sweet,” it may be a beneficial food for diabetics, as preliminary studies on animals have revealed that it helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and to lower insulin resistance.Some Americans, including television personality Oprah Winfrey, are advocating increased consumption of sweet potatoes both for their health benefits and because of their importance in traditional Southern cuisine.Both the Foothill Sweet Potato Alliance and The Fresh Market have expressed their hopes that more people become aware of the value of the sweet potato and that the market continues to grow. For more information visit the Foothill Sweet Potato website: www.foothillsweetpotato.com