What Are the Major Crops Grown in North Carolina?

North Carolina ranks among the most agriculturally diverse states in the country, producing everything from tobacco and sweet potatoes to Christmas trees and industrial hemp. The state’s geography drives much of that variety: a flat, sandy Coastal Plain in the east, a rolling Piedmont through the middle, and the cooler elevations of the Appalachian Mountains in the west each support different crops. That range means there is no single crop that defines North Carolina farming, but rather a rotating cast of staples, specialty products, and newer arrivals that together generate billions in farm revenue each year.

Tobacco Still Tops the List

Despite decades of declining acreage and shifting public health attitudes, tobacco remains one of North Carolina’s most valuable field crops. The state is the leading producer of flue-cured tobacco in the United States, a distinction it has held for well over a century.¹ Flue-cured tobacco is the variety used in most cigarettes, and it thrives in the sandy, well-drained soils of eastern North Carolina, particularly in counties like Duplin, Johnston, and Sampson.

The crop’s economic importance has shrunk since the federal tobacco quota system ended in 2004, which led many smaller farms to exit production. What remains is a more consolidated industry: fewer farms growing tobacco, but those that do tend to grow it on larger acreage with higher yields per acre than in previous decades. Tobacco still commands a high per-acre return compared to most row crops, which keeps it attractive for growers who have the infrastructure and labor to manage it. The curing process alone, which involves hanging harvested leaves in heated barns for days, requires significant investment in facilities and fuel.

Sweet Potatoes and North Carolina’s Dominance

If tobacco is the state’s historically iconic crop, sweet potatoes might be its modern signature. North Carolina consistently produces more sweet potatoes than any other state, typically accounting for well over half of the national harvest. The sandy loam soils of the eastern Coastal Plain are nearly ideal for the crop, offering the loose, warm ground that sweet potatoes need to develop smooth, well-shaped roots.

Production is concentrated in a handful of counties, with Johnston, Sampson, and Nash among the largest. The Covington variety, developed by North Carolina State University breeders, became the dominant commercial cultivar after its release in the mid-2000s, prized for its consistent shape, deep orange flesh, and sweetness. More recently, newer varieties have entered the market to address disease pressures and diversify the harvest window. Sweet potatoes are planted as slips (small rooted cuttings) in late spring and harvested in the fall, and they store well in climate-controlled facilities, which allows growers to sell into the market year-round rather than flooding it at harvest.

The crop has also benefited from shifting consumer tastes. Sweet potato fries, chips, and prepared products have expanded demand well beyond the Thanksgiving side dish the vegetable was once associated with. Export markets, particularly in Europe and Canada, have grown as well.

Soybeans and Corn

Soybeans and corn are the two largest row crops by acreage in North Carolina, though neither commands the per-acre value of tobacco or sweet potatoes. They are the workhorses of the state’s eastern farms, often grown in rotation with each other and with cotton or wheat.

Soybeans fit particularly well into North Carolina’s climate and cropping calendar. Many growers plant them as a “double crop” after harvesting winter wheat in early summer, squeezing two harvests out of the same field in a single year. This soybean-after-wheat system is the most common double-cropping arrangement in the United States, though it typically yields less per acre than soybeans planted full-season because the later planting date shortens the growing window.² Planting double-crop soybeans as soon as possible after the wheat comes off is critical, since each day of delay costs yield. The trade-off is worth it for many farms because wheat provides its own revenue before the soybeans go in, boosting total income from the field.

Corn in North Carolina goes primarily to animal feed, reflecting the state’s enormous livestock sector. Hog production and poultry operations in the eastern part of the state create steady local demand for corn, and much of what is grown never leaves the region. Corn requires more fertilizer and water than soybeans but offers higher per-acre yields in good years. The state’s hot, humid summers and generally adequate rainfall suit corn well, though drought years can cut yields sharply.

Cotton and Wheat

Cotton has been grown in North Carolina since the colonial era, and it remains a significant crop in the northeastern Coastal Plain counties. The state is not a major cotton producer on the scale of Texas or Georgia, but it typically ranks in the top ten nationally. North Carolina cotton tends to be high quality because the growing season, while shorter than in the Deep South, produces fiber with good staple length and strength. Harvest usually runs from October into November, and the crop benefits from the same sandy, well-drained soils that support tobacco and sweet potatoes.

Winter wheat plays an important supporting role. It is planted in the fall, grows slowly through the winter, and is harvested in late May or early June. On its own, wheat is not a particularly high-value crop in North Carolina, but it serves multiple purposes: it provides ground cover that reduces erosion over winter, it generates income from the grain harvest, and it sets up the field for double-crop soybeans. Many eastern North Carolina farms would not grow wheat at all if it were not part of a double-cropping system. Wheat straw is also sold as bedding for livestock operations, adding a secondary revenue stream.

Peanuts

North Carolina is one of the top peanut-producing states, with production centered in the northeastern Coastal Plain, particularly around the Bertie, Hertford, and Northampton county area. The state specializes in Virginia-type peanuts, which are the largest-kerneled variety and the kind you find sold in the shell at ballparks and roasted in snack mixes.

Peanut farming in North Carolina involves careful attention to disease management. Leaf spot, a fungal disease, can significantly reduce yields if left unchecked. Research conducted at multiple locations across the state found that peanut yield without fungicide treatment averaged around 4,410 kg per hectare, while fields treated with fungicides yielded between 5,000 and 5,390 kg per hectare, a difference that can easily determine whether a crop is profitable.³ Cultivar selection matters too: newer varieties like Bailey II, Emery, and Sullivan have been developed to balance disease resistance with yield potential and the large kernel size that the Virginia-type market demands.

Peanuts also play a useful agronomic role because, like soybeans, they fix nitrogen in the soil through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in their root nodules. This means the crop that follows peanuts in a rotation needs less fertilizer, which saves money and reduces environmental runoff.

Apples in the Mountains

The western mountain counties of North Carolina have a long apple-growing tradition, centered in Henderson County, which sits south of Asheville. The cooler temperatures, well-drained mountain soils, and elevation create conditions that suit apple production. Henderson County alone accounts for the vast majority of the state’s commercial apple harvest, and the crop supports a significant agritourism economy, with farm markets and u-pick operations drawing visitors every fall.

Apple orchards in the region face a relatively new threat from exotic ambrosia beetles. Trapping surveys across western North Carolina orchards found that three non-native beetle species were the dominant ones captured, and the same beetles were found boring into the scion wood, rootstock, and graft unions of declining trees.⁴ These beetles carry a variety of fungi, including several that cause wood decay and canker diseases. The condition, known as rapid apple decline, has been a growing concern for growers and is part of a broader pattern of invasive pest threats that affect fruit crops across the southeastern United States. The challenge is that there is no single easy fix: the beetles are already established in the region, and managing them involves a combination of orchard sanitation, monitoring, and protecting trees during their most vulnerable periods.

Blueberries and Strawberries

North Carolina is a significant berry-producing state. Blueberry acreage has expanded considerably over the past two decades, especially in the southeastern counties near Bladen and surrounding areas. The acidic soils of the region naturally suit blueberry production, and the crop has benefited from growing consumer demand for fresh and frozen blueberries. The state typically ranks among the top blueberry producers east of the Mississippi.

Strawberries, while grown on fewer total acres, have a strong presence in the Piedmont and foothills regions. North Carolina’s strawberry industry relies heavily on plasticulture, a system in which plants are grown on raised beds covered with plastic mulch. This approach warms the soil, conserves moisture, and suppresses weeds. Most strawberry farms sell through direct-to-consumer channels like farmers’ markets and pick-your-own operations, making the crop more of a local and regional product than a commodity shipped across the country. The harvest season, which runs from late April through early June, makes North Carolina strawberries some of the earliest available in the mid-Atlantic region.

Fraser Fir Christmas Trees

One of North Carolina’s most distinctive agricultural products is the Fraser fir Christmas tree. Fraser fir is a tree species found naturally only in a few isolated high-elevation areas of the Southern Appalachians, but it is cultivated commercially on a large scale as a Christmas tree.⁵ It is the most economically important Christmas tree species in the Southern Appalachian region, and North Carolina is its epicenter.⁶ The state ranks among the top Christmas tree producers nationally, with farms concentrated in the mountain counties of Avery, Ashe, Watauga, and Alleghany.

What makes Fraser fir so commercially successful is its dense pyramidal shape, strong branches that hold ornaments well, excellent needle retention after cutting, and a pleasant fragrance. Trees typically take seven to ten years from planting to harvest size, which means Christmas tree farming requires a long investment horizon and careful planning. During those years, growers manage for shape through shearing (trimming the canopy to maintain the classic conical silhouette), control weeds, and watch for pests and diseases. Root rot caused by water molds is a persistent problem, especially on poorly drained sites, and the balsam woolly adelgid, an invasive insect, has been a threat to both wild and cultivated Fraser fir for decades.

The Christmas tree industry also supports a network of related businesses: wreaths and garland made from Fraser fir boughs, shipping and logistics companies that move millions of trees to retail lots across the eastern United States, and choose-and-cut operations that draw tourists to mountain communities every November and December.

Industrial Hemp as a Newcomer

After the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production nationwide, North Carolina was among the states where farmers quickly embraced the crop. Hemp can be grown for its flowers (which contain CBD and other cannabinoids), its fiber, or its grain, and each of those production systems looks quite different in practice. An economic analysis of all three systems in North Carolina found that floral hemp has the highest potential returns but also the greatest risk, while fiber and grain hemp offer more modest but steadier outcomes.⁷ Under baseline conditions, all three systems can generate enough revenue to cover costs, but profitability is heavily influenced by yield swings and market price fluctuations, especially for floral hemp.

The early excitement around hemp, however, cooled quickly. The floral hemp sector in particular experienced a boom-and-bust cycle: overproduction flooded the market, prices dropped, and many growers who entered the industry lost money. Research into the state’s hemp sector found that many floral hemp farmers abandoned the crop after financial setbacks, and interest in cultivation declined sharply compared to five years earlier.⁸ The fiber and grain sides of the industry have been slower to develop because they require processing infrastructure (like decorticators for fiber and oil presses for grain) that has not yet been built out at scale in the state. Hemp remains a legal and potentially viable crop in North Carolina, but it has not become the agricultural revolution that early advocates predicted.

Livestock Feed Crops and Forages

Any discussion of North Carolina’s crops would be incomplete without acknowledging the state’s massive livestock industry and the crops that feed it. North Carolina is one of the largest hog-producing states in the country and has a huge poultry sector, particularly in the eastern and Piedmont regions. Much of the corn and soybean harvest stays in-state to supply feed mills. Beyond those row crops, farmers grow hay, silage corn, small grains, and pasture grasses to support cattle operations, which are more common in the western Piedmont and mountain foothills.

Fescue and bermudagrass are the dominant pasture and hay grasses, with fescue suited to the cooler Piedmont and mountain areas and bermudagrass to the warmer Coastal Plain. These are not glamorous cash crops, but they cover enormous acreage and are essential to the state’s agricultural economy. The interplay between crop farming and animal agriculture is one of the defining features of North Carolina’s farm landscape: the animals create demand for feed crops, and the manure from livestock operations (particularly hog lagoons and poultry litter) cycles back as fertilizer for fields. That cycle is productive but also contentious, since nutrient runoff from animal waste has been a persistent environmental concern in eastern North Carolina.

Nursery, Greenhouse, and Specialty Crops

By total sales, the nursery and greenhouse sector is actually one of the highest-grossing agricultural categories in North Carolina. This includes ornamental plants, shrubs, trees, bedding plants, and container-grown stock sold to landscapers, garden centers, and big-box retailers. The mild climate and central East Coast location give North Carolina nurseries a logistical advantage: they can ship to markets from New England to Florida within a day or two by truck.

Specialty crops round out the picture. Muscadine grapes, a thick-skinned grape native to the Southeast, support a small but dedicated wine and juice industry. Triad and Piedmont counties grow a fair amount of cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, and other vegetables for fresh market. Watermelons thrive in the eastern counties. And North Carolina has a growing craft beverage scene that has spurred interest in hops, barley, and specialty grain varieties, though these remain tiny in acreage compared to the state’s traditional field crops.

What stands out about North Carolina’s crop portfolio is how much it reflects geography. A farm in Duplin County growing tobacco and sweet potatoes on sandy soil has almost nothing in common with a Fraser fir operation on a misty mountain slope in Avery County, or a nursery shipping ornamental hollies out of a Piedmont greenhouse. The state manages to be a major player in commodities like soybeans and corn while also dominating niche markets like Fraser fir trees and Virginia-type peanuts, a breadth that few other states can match.