Black Gold Farms has recently acquired a significant amount of additional sweet potato acreage. This acquisition includes all facilities and real estate from Dawson Farms, presently the largest sweet potato grower in the mid-south, located near Delhi, Louisiana.
While Black Gold Farms has been growing sweet potatoes for 4 years for the processing industry, this acquisition will allow them to considerably expand their volume of processing potatoes, as well as provide an entrance into the table stock sweet potato arena in a significant way.
Gregg Halverson, President and CEO of Black Gold Farms commented, “Our business model has always been to keep our eye out for growth opportunities when and where it makes sense. This acquisition complements not only our sweet potato acreage we now grow near Oak Grove, Louisiana, but it is also is a great complement to our red potato production in North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Texas. The Dawson Farms’ crew has built a great organization and production facility. We are excited to be able to incorporate the additional volume into the Black Gold Farms portfolio.”
With the substantial increase in volume and addition of packing facilities, Black Gold Farms will be adding several sweet potato products to retail and food service with boxes, RPC’s and bags, as well as microwavable shrink-wrapped SKU’s. Additional consumer packaging capabilities are being developed based on retail and consumer demand.
“With sweet potato consumption increasing, we knew this was the perfect opportunity to be able to leverage that trend. The addition will be a great asset to our existing product line of red potatoes and value added potato products,” remarked Glen Reynolds, Director of National Produce Sales.
