Wada to continue leading Domestic Marketing Committee

Chris Wada of Pingree, Idaho, was re-elected to the Potatoes USA Executive Committee on March 17, at the organization’s 44th Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He will be serving his fifth year on the board and his third year on its Executive Committee. In 2012 and 2013, he served on the Board Administrative Committee as a member of its Domestic Marketing Committee.

Wada has been involved in the potato business his entire life. After leaving for eight-years of college and other employment, he returned to the family business and joined the sales and marketing office at Wada Farms in 2007. His current role is market research and strategy.

My duties include a wide variety of things with a focus on strategic planning, business development, product marketing and communications,” Wada said.

Based in Idaho, the Wada family has been growing Idaho Russet potatoes since 1943. Today, their family of farms also grows reds, golds and smalls varieties across the country. Wada Farms is primarily a fresh table-stock producer.

“The Wada Family farmed in San Clemente, California, until World War II broke out,” Wada explains. “My grandfather Frank moved his family inland during the war to avoid internment when Japanese Americans were forced to relocate from California.

“Upon settling in Southeastern Idaho in 1943, Wada Farms began growing potatoes on 160 acres of rented ground. My father Albert took over the 400-acre family farm in 1972 and grew the company to what it is today. My older brother Bryan is now company president, my father is chairman, and I’m just proud to be a part of Wada Farms.

“Being part of a family business gives me somewhat of a unique perspective into both the grower/shipper and sales/marketing aspects of the potato industry. This perspective is used to understand the relationship between the necessity of sustainable grower returns in the face of competitive pricing, generational trends and less than ideal economic realities.”

Wada studied agri-business at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, California, and holds a BA in marketing from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii. Chris is married to Cynthia Wada, and they have a 4-year-old son named Kenzo.

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