CULLMAN, Ala. – A bill before the Alabama legislature aims to elevate a staple of Cullman County agriculture to the highest honor the state can confer on…well, on a vegetable. It’s no small recognition, though — because local sweet potato fans are really diggin’ it.

The hardy orange tuber is set to achieve some overdue appreciation thanks to the efforts of a Madison County homeschool teacher and her students, who are on a mission to recruit the sweet potato into official state service.

Teacher Kristen Smith says her class of 10 teenagers baked up the campaign to make the sweet potato the official state vegetable after realizing, during their civics studies, that Alabama — the Goldenrod State; the Yellowhammer State; the state of the camellia, the longleaf pine, the blackberry, the fighting tarpon and the Monarch butterfly — was somehow still conspicuously lacking in the healthy produce department.

“We actually started thinking about this when we found out there was no state vegetable as we were preparing for our Alabama Bicentennial party, which included a dinner,” says Smith. “We researched fruit and wild birds, and we had all these dishes that used our state emblems — but I couldn’t find a vegetable.

“At first I thought I must just be missing something. How can Alabama — whose economy is so dependent on agriculture — not have a state vegetable?! So I sent an email to the state archives, and when the guy wrote me back, he jokingly wrote — with an ‘LOL’ — that they think down there that it should be the collard green.”

But as it turned out, nobody in Smith’s class (including Smith) had much of a taste for collard greens. And as she and her students did more research, one vegetable kept popping up wherever they happened to look. Eventually, Smith realized she needed to reach out to those in the know about the beta-carotene & potassium-packed tubers — and that, of course, led her to Cullman County.

“We talked to Casey Smith, who’s the president of the Alabama Sweet Potato Association, down in Cullman. And from that point on, we were like, ‘Hey! We think it should be the sweet potato!’” Smith recalls.

It wasn’t long before Smith and her students fell down a rabbit hole of research; one that’s ended up teaching them not only about the sweet potato’s outsized role in Alabama’s agricultural economy, but also given them an invaluable, hands-on lesson in Civics 101.

“One of the blessings about being a homeschooler is that, when we find something like this that’s so totally cool, you can just put everything else aside and run with it as long as you want to, wherever it takes you,” says Smith. “I think the students would tell you that, in the beginning, they thought that this was ridiculous. They’re teenagers, so of course at first they were like, ‘Sweet potatoes? You need to get a clue!’

“But as they talked with the farmers, and continued to research, they began to get it. Yes, this is just a sweet potato, but it’s also someone’s livelihood. These are jobs. It’s putting food on someone’s table, and it’s very much a vital part of the economy of Alabama agriculture.

“On top of that, this has given these kids a great lesson in how legislation works. If our state government is gonna pass a law about anything — whether it’s the stop sign on your corner, or how to define marriage — this is the process, and no matter what the subject is, it doesn’t change. Thanks to all of this, these students understand that now in a way you just can’t teach.”

Eventually, the students’ quest led them to Doug Davenport, director for Cullman County’s parks department. As the host of the annual Sweet Tater festival at Smith Lake Park, Cullman County Park & Rec is better-equipped than most with inside info on the sweet potato — especially when it comes to marketing.

“They got in touch with me, and I wrote — all the kids wrote — letters to their state representative. Everybody knows we’ve got a state bird, a state flower, even a state fruit,” Davenport says. “But I guess having a state vegetable just fell through the cracks, and these kids noticed it. This has really been a good way of teaching the kids about getting a law started and about the process of having it implemented. It’s a great educational tool for them.

Of course it is — but it’s also become a great way for the Sweet Tater festival to raise its prestige profile. If the bill passes and Gov. Kay Ivey signs it into law, will the festival capitalize on the sweet potato’s sweet new status upgrade?

“Oh yeah — we’ve already got the T-shirts,” Davenport confesses. “At this year’s festival, we’re gonna waive the entrance fee for the students, for Ms. Smith, for all they’ve done. They’ve really been the driving force.”

So far, the bill is moving without obstruction through the legislature, and no one expects the bill — sponsored by Alabama Sens. Tom Butler and Arthur Orr, whom Smith initially contacted with the idea — to face any serious opposition.

Cullman’s Garlan Gudger, who represents the area as Alabama’s District 4 Senator, didn’t find out about the bill until it already had its Madison County-area Senate sponsorship lined up. But he’s on board big-time to help get the sweet potato’s name emblazoned permanently and illustriously in the state archives.

“When I heard this story — and it’s an amazing story — I was all in on it,” says Gudger. “It’s really great for the teacher and her students to research and learn about how civics works by taking the initiative to be a part of the process themselves. The only thing I was a little disappointed about in the beginning is that I didn’t get to cosponsor it, because it originated outside my district before it came to my attention. But it tells a great story about our area.

“Cullman County is the number-one producer of sweet potatoes in the state. Look at farmers like Keith Jones at Gold Ridge: He’s been doing sweet potatoes his whole life, and we have farmers like him across District 4. There are some massive sweet potato farms here, and they produce some of the best sweet potatoes in Alabama and even the Southeast.”

That’s a lot of praise for such a modest plant, no matter how vital it might be to Alabama’s economy. If all these people — from Kristin Smith to Doug Davenport to Garlan Gudger and even Gov. Ivey — are going to sing such sweet odes to the lowly sweet potato, can they put their money with their mouth is? Do any of these people even like eating them?

“You’re kidding, right? I love sweet potatoes, and my wife does too,” says Gudger. “Her favorite is sweet potato fries — lightly battered. Mine is just a plain sweet potato, baked just right with a little bit of cinnamon and butter. A sweet potato really doesn’t need much dressing up to be delicious.”

As for Smith, she’s been a sweet potato flavor convert since long before her Bicentennial project ever led her class to Cullman County. “I love them!” she chirps. “We roast them, we have sweet potato fries, and even my dog is on a veterinarian-prescribed sweet potato diet. Plus, I do make a wonderful sweet potato Thanksgiving casserole. It’s not very healthy, but I’m sorry — it’s the best. And no, I will not share my recipe!”