Ham Farms

Meet the farm behind your dog's treats 🍠

There's a sweet potato farm in Eastern North Carolina that's been doing something most of the food industry hasn't quite caught up to yet. They plant in April, harvest all the way through November, rotate their crops every single year, and make sure that every sweet potato they grow (every single one) finds a purpose.
That farm is Ham Farms, and we upcycle their sweet potatoes into some of your dog’s favorite treats.

A little background on Ham Farms

Ham Farms was founded in 1975 by Mr. Ham, a former oil company employee who saw an early opportunity in sweet potatoes before they were the beloved grocery staple they are today. What started as a forward-thinking bet on an underappreciated vegetable has grown into one of the most established sweet potato operations in the country, spanning roughly 12,000 acres and supplying major retailers across the US.

The farm is run today with the same philosophy it was built on: grow good food, use all of it, and don't waste what the earth gave you.

What does 'upcycled' actually mean here?

Here's something most people don't know about sweet potatoes (or most produce, honestly): not every sweet potato that gets grown makes it to the grocery store shelf. Some are too small. Some have a little bump or a broken end. Some are just a slightly irregular shape that doesn't photograph well for a retail display.

At a conventional farm, that produce either gets sold at a steep discount or goes to waste. At Ham Farms, it doesn't. Their off-grade sweet potatoes get sorted into a separate processing stream where they become a dehydrated product, puree, or, in our case, an ingredient in your dog's treats.

That's the upcycling story in a nutshell: the sweet potatoes in your dog's Meaty Tenders are 100% real, farm-grown, nutritious sweet potato. They just weren't the right shape for a grocery store display. We think that's a perfectly ridiculous reason to let good food go to waste.

Why sweet potatoes in dog treats?

Sweet potatoes aren't just a filler ingredient, they're genuinely good for dogs. They're high in fiber, packed with vitamins A and C, and rich in beta-carotene (great for vision and immune health). They also happen to be a fantastic natural binder, which is part of why we use them in our treats. They help hold the treat together without relying on artificial additives.

A farm that takes their farming seriously

One of the things we love most about Ham Farms is that their no-waste philosophy goes well beyond what they send to us. Their operation is genuinely circular:

• Sweet potato scraps and bits get sold to local farmers as animal feed for pigs and chickens
• Puree byproduct from their processing facility gets redirected to Covington Spirits to produce vodka instead of being discarded
• They maintain bee-friendly acreage to support pollinator health — a commitment that benefits the entire surrounding ecosystem
• They practice crop rotation every single year, alternating sweet potatoes with pumpkin, squash, and tobacco, so the soil stays healthy for future harvests

This is what a truly sustainable food supply chain looks like. And it's the kind of partner we want to build Shameless Pets around.

From their field to your dog's treats

Every bag of Meaty Tenders starts with a harvest in Eastern North Carolina. It moves through Ham Farms' packing and processing facilities, comes to us as dehydrated sweet potato, and gets baked into the treats your dog is probably already obsessed with.
That's a supply chain you can actually trace. That's an ingredient you can actually explain. And that's a treat you can feel genuinely good about.
We're grateful for Ham Farms, and for every imperfect sweet potato that made its way into your dog's treats. 🍠🐾