The autumn harvest is underway or already wrapped up for many of the top crops in North Carolina, and this season yielded mixed results for farmers.
It was a particularly bad year for corn, which suffered from the effect of a severe drought and high summer temperatures, while other field crops like cotton, soybeans and peanuts fared somewhat better. Meanwhile, horticultural staples like sweet potatoes and apples had an excellent year, extension agents told Carolina Public Press.
Victor Gomes, an agronomist who leads research on corn at NC State University, said a drought that started last year created poor soil conditions during the planting season in April. That posed an immediate challenge for the state’s corn farmers.
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“Most of the growers were planting into really dry ground, pretty much planting into dust,” Gomes said.
Those who waited until May or early June to plant their corn typically ended up with better yields thanks to some timely rains, but they were a small minority of farmers, Gomes said.
Diesel prices and poor harvest squeeze corn farmers
Statistics released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Oct. 26 showed that the corn harvest in North Carolina is just about finished, with 96% of the planted crop harvested.
That same report showed that just over half of North Carolina’s corn was graded as “poor” or “very poor” in 2026. That’s second-worst of the top corn-producing U.S. states, besting only Colorado.
This marks another bad year in a string of disappointments for North Carolina’s corn producers. Some farms rebounded last year after a historically disastrous 2024, but that relief was short-lived thanks to this summer’s unfavorable weather and high diesel and fertilizer costs.
According to Wilson County extension director Norman Harrell, spiking diesel prices are top of mind for farmers as they work the fields in their combine harvesters.
The average cost for a gallon of diesel in North Carolina is $5.54, according to AAA. That’s better than it was a month ago, when diesel surpassed $6 per gallon, but it is still far more expensive compared to this time last year.
Energy prices have surged since the United States began bombing Iran in February. State lawmakers offered some relief earlier this month when they temporarily waived the state gas tax through November.
“Just about everything on the farm runs on diesel or is impacted by diesel, and the significant increase in price increased the farmers’ expense for the year,” Harrell said.
Tobacco disappoints, but sweet potatoes bountiful
Wilson County, where Harrell works, is among the state’s top producers of tobacco and sweet potatoes. North Carolina is the No. 1 producer of those two crops nationally.
Tobacco struggled this summer, as dry conditions delayed its growth and high temperatures caused some of the crop to break down in the heat. While it's still a bit early to measure, Harrell said he estimates that tobacco yields will be about average but of lesser quality compared to past years.
Wilson County sweet potatoes, meanwhile, had above average yields. That matches a similarly positive statewide trend, according to Michelle Grainger of the North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission.
“The industry wasn't quite sure what we would find when it came time to harvest as we had such challenging weather conditions at the start of our season,” Grainger said in an email to CPP.
“However, for those that I have spoken with, everyone seems to be pleased with the results of the season.”
Grainger added that consumer demand for sweet potatoes is “up significantly,” both in the United States and abroad. Total acres harvested are projected to be slightly higher than last season, she said.
Soybean and apple growers enjoy a solid year
Soybeans, the state’s most widely planted field crop, also managed to avoid the fate of corn and tobacco.
Charles Hall, the executive director of the NC Soybean Producers Association, said he’s expecting a good yield statewide. So far, North Carolina farmers are about one-third of the way through the soybean harvest.
“USDA projections I’ve seen indicate a good yield, and the farmers I’ve talked to are talking about some really good yields on their farms,” Hall said, “so I think it’s at least average, maybe better than average.”
The state’s apple growers are happy as well. Most of their orchards are located in and around Henderson County, which produces more than 80% of North Carolina’s apples.
Henderson extension agent William Kelly said a combination of successful yields, good quality and high prices made for one of the best years apple growers have seen in recent memory.
“You don’t always get those three things all working at the same time,” Kelly said.
"It's actually one of those things that we’ve been due for, because we’ve had some down years recently.”
Rainfall makes or breaks cotton and peanut farmers
In Northampton County, a northeastern county which borders Virginia, cotton bolls have burst open and turned fields white.
There, extension director Craig Ellison said the outcome for cotton farms varied widely depending on whether they got adequate summer rainfall from scattered thunderstorms.
“I call them personal rain showers,” Ellison said. “Your neighbor got it, but you didn’t.”
That uneven rainfall resulted in yields anywhere between 750 pounds to 1,500 pounds per acre, according to Ellison. Last year, the average cotton yield per harvested acre in Northampton was 1,134 pounds.
Peanuts, another important crop in that area, also had varying success depending on rainfall.
“Our peanut yields are going to be a little bit below average from what we've seen in years past,” Ellison said.
“I don't know how much below average, but we still are making a decent crop.”
The harvest season will continue until early December, when the last of the soybeans are typically pulled from the ground. Soon after that, winter wheat will be planted and farmers will begin preparing for the next planting season.
Looking forward, Harrell hopes the upcoming winter won’t be as dry as it was last year.
“We need some moisture, and a lot of it, to build our water tables back up so we don’t have this problem again in 2027,” he said.
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 