A third-generation farmer with a long family legacy in potatoes is now the leader of the nation’s lead potato growers advocacy group.

Ted Tschirky of Pasco was elected as president of the National Potato Council (NPC) during the organization’s recent annual summit in Washington, D.C., according to a news release. He was most recently NPC’s first vice president and vice president of trade affairs and served on the Washington State Potato Commission.

Tschirky said he wants to use his new role to encourage NPC’s leadership to connect with lawmakers as much as possible.

“When it comes to policies affecting agriculture, it should be our goal for elected officials to come to us and ask how these rules and regulations would affect our business,” Tschirky said in the release. “It takes time to get to this point, so let’s make it a commitment to get there at all levels.”

Tschirky has been a potato farmer since he was 18, growing spuds for Lamb Weston as part of a project for the National FFA Organization, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America. For the past 45 years he’s carried on the legacy of potato farming started by his great-grandparents.  

His business, Washington Tschirky Farms, was started by his father in the 1950s and now grows mostly potatoes for processing. His wife Merideth and sons Tyler and Dylan work with him to oversee the business.