Tobacco was the crop that built not just North Carolina agriculture, but the entire state. It supported universities, hospitals and created opportunities for growth that have made North Carolina one of the fasted growing states in the nation. But as word spread about tobacco, that market went into a steep decline. Amazingly, sweetpotatoes like the same land, the same equipment, the same workers ? it was a natural transition. So much so that today North Carolina grows over two-thirds of the U.S. sweetpotato crop!