For the first time, the New York State Fair will feature potatoes grown in Wayne County in the staple potato booth. The potatoes are produced by 26-year-old Garrett Williams.

“I grew up on a potato farm, so that’s what I’ve known,” Williams said. “My first memories were growing a vegetable in a garden.” 

Despite growing up in the business, Williams began his own production in 2022 on 300 acres of land outside of Cato. He will provide about 40,000 pounds of potatoes for the booth this year. 

“It’s a little nerve-wracking, but it feels good. It’s exciting,” Williams said. 

Williams in one of his fields. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

New York Commissioner of Agriculture Richard Ball said it is a chance to show fairgoers where their food comes from.  

“New York grows about 200,000 acres of potatoes and if we’re going to connect the dots between fairgoers, New Yorkers and our farmers, let’s start with New York potatoes,” Ball said. “We’ve got 30,000 farmers to connect with the next generations and let them see that [agriculture] is a viable way of making a living in New York state.”  

The cost of the potatoes will remain at $1 each and the state has partnered with Tully’s Good Times to operate the booth.  

Williams began his harvest last week, but the processing of growing the potato is fairly straight forward, he said. 

One of Williams’ potatoes from the booth in the horticulture building. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“We’ll actually plant a potato and then this will grow the plant, and it’ll shoot more tubers off. We call a potato a tuber of the plant and then it will grow another set, so we buy seed from other potato growers because they’re a lower generation, then we’ll plant their potatoes to grow our potatoes. And that’s all there is to it,” Williams said. 

He said the key with potatoes is to make sure the soil has good drainage, particularly in New York state because of the amount of rainfall.  

“The better drainage you have, the better because they need moisture. But they do not like excessive moisture,” he said. 

He grows 12 varieties of potatoes and will supply Russett potatoes to the New York State Fair. But like many farmers, Williams is no stranger to the challenges that come with raising crops. One of his fields of Russet potatoes flooded this year, forcing him to replant. 

Salt potatoes being harvested on Friday which are now being served at the State Fair. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“You fight different battles. You think you got it figured out, but then something dies on you. You get some disease and it goes backwards and you think you aren’t going to get a good crop and then you come out and see something you did, you tried to fight it, and you saw it worked and it’s like ‘whoa, I do know what I’m doing,’” Williams said. 

The average age of a New York farmer is about 56 years old, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture from 2022 said that of the approximately 57,500 producers in New York, only about 1,300 are under the age of 25. 

A later planting of Russet potatoes on Williams’ farm. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“At 26 years old, for him to have his own farm and to be at a point where he can supply the New York State Fair with potatoes this early in the season, is really amazing. So hats off to him. He’s doing a great job,” Ball said.  

Williams is the youngest of three brothers that all work in agriculture. 

“I don’t think there’s anything else that we could do or would want to do you know, as tough as it gets, we keep doing it,” he said.