Project Overview
Information Products
Commodities
- Vegetables: sweet potatoes
Practices
- Crop Production: varieties and cultivars
- Education and Training: demonstration, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research
- Farm Business Management: feasibility study
- Production Systems: organic agriculture
- Soil Management: Possible summer time cover crop for 9b region of south Texas.
- Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems
Summary:
There has not been commercial level production of sweet potato in south Texas for decades. PPC Farms, an organic and conventional grower/packer/shipper of specialty vegetable crops in Mission, Texas conducted a one acre feasibility study of four varieties of organic sweet potato production. PPC Farms' project objective was to explore whether sweet potato can be successfully grown in south Texas during the excruciatingly hot summer months, extend the growing season for the local organic farmers, increase crop diversity and income.
Project objectives:
Organic Sweet Potatoes In South Texas?
The objective of the proposal was to explore if the soil and climate of the Lower Rio Grande Valley are suitable for sweet potato production, machinery used in local agriculture could be adapted to plant the crop, local irrigation method was adequate, observe weed pressure, pest pressure, and explore what kind of pests are present in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Region specific information and practices were to be gathered and explored. The field trial data was collected with the help of UTRGV students.