Sweet Potato Farmer Todd O'Neal Is Feeling the Love as

Todd O'Neal is a sweet potato farmer in Louisiana and his enthusiasm for the crop is electric. He talks to us about how sweet potatoes were considered something for poor people, as small farmers always had a patch to feed their family. But recently, the crop has been better understood as flavorful, nutritious and versatile. Todd talks to us for our holiday foods series about the ins and outs of growing them as well as give us his tip on the best way to enjoy sweet potatoes. 

Todd is with Black Gold Farms, you can connect with them on online:

• On the Web: https://blackgoldfarms.com/
• Like Them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackGoldFarms/
• Connect with Them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/black-gold-farms/

Watch Todd talk growing sweet potatoes this season with the team at This Week in Louisiana Agriculture.

Sweet Potatoes are now grown & enjoyed 12 months out of the year! It's no longer just a holiday thing!

Did you know that the "regular potatoes" you think of are often called "white potatoes" or "Irish Potatoes?"

 

The Curing Process in Sweet potatoes: Regular/White/Irish Potatoes are brought inside to an environment to cool. Sweet potatoes on the other hand are heated up to help break down the sugars inside the sweet potato which makes it "sweet".

The biggest time of the year for sweet potato farmers? Thanksgiving! Holidays are big in general. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are all big times for sweet potatoes. But they have been gaining ground and are now enjoyed year round!

Why are sweet potatoes so popular? At one time every farmer grew sweet potatoes but there was a steady decline as farming numbers dwindled. At one time, sweet potatoes were somehow aligned with people "being poor" and so they fell off the general chart of attention span. In just the last decade, sweet potatoes have gained attention momentum, being associated with a general focus on health, being offered as solutions to many people with a variety of dietary needs including those who are diabetic and take take on the starches that are provided in the Regular/White/Irish Potato.They are high in Vitamin A & Beta Carotene.

It's in the bag, man: When COVID-19 began gripping the US, there was a swell in sales of sweet potatoes (and all general foods that could be purchased/acquired at grocery stores). Todd also noticed something strange in a photo of a grocery store's produce area - the only things left were "loose apples" which helped to craft a new plan to help the sale of sweet potatoes. It was clear that people were grabbing things in a BAG, because people were paying attention to how many surfaces were touched by how many people.

There's only ONE kind of sweet potato, right? There are many varieties of sweet potatoes - The Bayou Belle: It's not the prettiest potato but makes for great sweet potato fries! The Orleans sweet potato is the pretty one for fresh market handsome go to processors and there is a lesser known type - The Beauregard - all of which were developed and named - clearly - from their development at