Best known for their Idaho russets, Wada Farms Marketing Group LLC in Idaho Falls, ID, offers a wide range of potato products both organic and conventional, as well as onions and sweet potatoes, sourced from various producing areas around the country.

“We are going to be highlighting our full gamut of product selections” at the upcoming Southeast Produce Council Expo, March 7-9 in Orlando, FL, said Kevin Stanger, president of Wada Farms in a Feb. 4 interview with The Produce News. That will include “our russets, our colored potatoes, our onions, our sweet potatoes, and our organic program.”

Kevi StangerWada Farms has participated in the SEPC Expo for close to 10 years Stanger said. “It is a good show in the sense that there is a lot of traffic. Everybody’s booth is the same size, it is not one of the big major shows, but they have good attendance and they have good programs.” There are “a lot of retailers who now realize” the benefits derived from attending the show, “so it has been a good show for us over the past years,” he added.

“Obviously, we are known for our Idaho potatoes, so that is always at the forefront of what we are doing.” But at the expo, Wada Farms will also be “definitely pushing our sweet potato program out of North Carolina.”

Sweet potatoes are, of course, a staple in the southeastern United States. Years ago, they were “really only heavy in the South,” Stanger said. Elsewhere in the country, “the only time people would see sweet potatoes would maybe be for Christmas and Thanksgiving.” But that has changed over the years, and now “you are seeing sweet potatoes in stores all across the country.” Yet they remain “a heavy favorite down in the Southeast,” he said.                                                                            

In the potato category, in addition to russets, Wada Farms has been growing colored potatoes for many years, “and for the last couple of years, we have really increased in our organic program in potatoes.”

In addition to Idaho, Wada Farms has potatoes out of Colorado. “We have a [potato packing] shed in Colorado that we do a lot with,” he said. Also, the company works with co-packers “all across the country.”

The company’s diverse offerings in the potato category include russets, red and yellow varieties, fingerlings, chippers, artisan mini-potatoes and various retail convenience packs.

Wada Farms has had an onion program for quite a few years as well. “Our onions right now are coming out of the Northwest area,” Stanger said. “As we get into the spring and summer, they will start making their transition down to California and then down to Mexico and New Mexico.”

It all adds up to a one-stop-shop for potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes, with an availability that enables Wada Farms to cover its customers’ needs, he said. “That, primarily, is what we are focusing on” at the SEPC expo.