Feb 28, 2025Washington grower named 2025 National Potato Council president
Ted Tschirky, a third-generation potato farmer in Washington’s Columbia River Basin, has been elected president of the National Potato Council (NPC) for 2025.
Tschirky, of Pasco, Washington, has been active in state and national potato associations for more than 20 years. He served on the Washington State Potato Commission prior to joining NPC in a leadership role.
“As this year’s council president, I want to encourage our executive committee and board members to get involved with their state representatives as much as possible, which, in turn, helps build stronger relationships on the federal level,” Tschirky said in a news release. “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.
“It takes time to get to this point, so let’s make it a commitment to get there at all levels.”
Tschirky’s father founded Tschirky Farms in the 1950s. The business now mostly grows potatoes for processing and includes a storage facility.
The full NPC executive committee roster was installed at this week’s annual Washington Summit:
- Ted Tschirky (Pasco, Washington) – president
- Ben Sklarczyk (Johannesburg, Michigan) – first vice president and vice president of grower outreach and industry research
- Chris Olsen (Othello, Washington) – vice president of environmental affairs
- TJ Hall (Hoople, North Dakota) – vice president of finance
- Dean Gibson (Paul, Idaho) – vice president of legislative affairs
- Brett Jensen (Idaho Falls, Idaho) – vice president of trade affairs
- Bob Mattive (Monte Vista, Colorado) – immediate past president
- Kam Quarles (NPC CEO) – non-voting member
