WARDEN, Wash. — Frank Martinez grew up in Mexico but now has a farm near Warden, Wash., which he purchased in 2004.

He started growing potatoes on his own in 1981 after working on other farms.

The farm he purchased is 50 acres, with potato storage units, a shop, and a house where his son lives now. “I lease most of the ground I farm; every year I lease about 750 to 1,000 acres and grow potatoes,” he said.

He rotates the potatoes with five different landlords who grow other crops. “They grow wheat and other crops, but every fourth to fifth year, depending on the crop, they lease their ground to me to grow potatoes, for their rotation,” Martinez said. “If they’ve been growing hay, it’s every fifth year, and if it’s corn or wheat, it’s every fourth year that I grow potatoes on their ground.”

Those farmers need a crop rotation and this works well for both parties.

He has facilities for storing 24,000 tons of potatoes. The storage unit on his farm can store 12,000 tons.

“I have another storage building in the town of Warden, where I can store another 12,000 tons. The potatoes I grow are all contracted. I grow for McCain, and for Lamb Weston,” he said.

McCain Foods is a Canadian multinational frozen food company established in 1957 in New Brunswick, and is the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products, competing with Simplot and Lamb Weston.

McCain Foods USA is a leading supplier of frozen potato products across the U.S. and recently started expansion of its Othello, Wash., potato processing facility.

Potato processors contract a certain number of acres each year with their growers.

“These are specific varieties that are all made into french fries. This region produces the best french fries in the world, and I am not shy to say that!” Martinez said.

“I have my own equipment to do everything from fall work to planting, to harvest and storage and everything in between. The processing plants are nearby and they come to get my potatoes. I am only 20 miles from Othello, where the McCain plant is located, and 40 miles from my other processor,” Martinez said.

His son Juan lives on the farm and helps with the potatoes.

“I also have a nephew who is my foreman who runs everything. His name is Ubaldo. They do most of it now, and I just stand in the background and make sure they do everything right!” he said.

It is a family operation. “My oldest grandkid is 15 and still trying to decide what he wants to do when he grows up — whether to continue farming or do something else.”

Frank and his wife also have two other grandchildren — Fabian and Natalia.

Their hope is to have the farm go on for several generations because this is excellent ground. On their own farm they rotate potatoes with hay, wheat and corn, and sell those crops locally, usually to feedlots.

“We’ve had challenges in earlier years, but we’ve still done very well. About a quarter of the ground that I lease uses water from the canal system and the other three-quarters uses water from deep wells,” says Martinez.

He has 5 employees through much of the year, and about 20 during harvest. He believes he may be the only Hispanic farmer in Washington, and maybe the nation, who grows this many potatoes.

“I am on the Washington State Potato Commission board so I travel a lot. I’ve met a few other Hispanic potato growers — a couple in Colorado who grow seed potatoes — and one in Florida who grows for his local farmers market, but I grow a lot more.”

In 2012 McDonald’s chose him for their advertisement, to put a face on their growers. “I’ve also done advertisements for Washington Grown and have been featured in several magazine articles. It’s been a good ride!”