Abstract:
Potatoes are a profitable crop in North Carolina's coastal counties because the soil there is fertile and potato-friendly. Currently around 17,500 acres are under cultivation. The potato crop generates between $15 million to $17 million into the local economies of Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Currituck, Hyde, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties. During a five-week harvest season, Pat McCotter, of Vandemere, will ship between fifteen to twenty tractor-trailer loads a day.