Sweetpotatoes in a Globalizing World : The Effects of Globalization on North Carolina's Sweetpotato Industry

Abstract

This study examines the form and effects of globalization on North Carolina's sweetpotato industry. A commodity chain analysis was conducted by constructing North Carolina's sweetpotato commodity chain (SPCC) through the collection of quantitative data and interviews with various individuals (growers, packers, exporters, etc.) within North Carolina's sweetpotato industry. This study has demonstrated that there are several effects of globalization seen throughout the sweetpotato commodity chain, including the changing roles of the various actors within the SPCC and how North Carolina's sweetpotato industry functions through changes in marketing, distribution, and various technologies. As globalization has unfolded, the SPCC has expanded and lengthened, incorporating new sets of actors, such as third-party food safety auditors, into its nodes, who have influenced the particular form of globalization within the North Carolina sweetpotato industry. Institutions that have played a particularly influential role have been the state and grower organizations. Findings have also shown that an industry must be prepared, through investments in technology, marketing, and distribution, in order to meet the demands of new buyers that globalization brings to a commodity chain. Globalization comes swiftly when an industry is ready to meet the demands of entering the global market, as this study shows by tracing the history of North Carolina's sweetpotato industry and its role in the global sweetpotato economy. Finally, I show that globalization has had positive and negative effects on North Carolina's sweetpotato industry, suggest how these effects can be used as learning tools for other industries yet to globalize, and suggest further areas of research within the sweetpotato economy.