In the early 1900's, William Harrison Gray along with his wife Isabelle started farming in Osseo, Minnesota. One of the crops on their 100 acre farm was potatoes. They had three sons. One of the boys was Neil. He started farming with his dad, William in the 1920's. Neil married Blanche Hartkopf. They had three children. The youngest, Howard Benjamin was born in 1928. After serving his country in the Korean War, Howard returned to farming full time with his father. He married Oreta Rose Schmidt in 1952. They had five children: Barb, Kathy, Janet, Paul and Gary.
Feeling the urban sprawl of the Twin Cities, Howard looked north to continue farming. In 1966 he started farming in Clear Lake, MN. The sandy soil was just right for growing red potatoes under irrigation. Howard was a pioneer in the area with irrigation. In 1970 he purchased the first Lockwood electrical center pivot in the state. In the 70's he branched out and grew some processing potatoes along with sweet corn and soybeans.
In the early 80's his two sons Paul and Gary started taking a more active role in the farming operation. Along with helping their dad and mom growing potatoes they started growing strawberries. Today, the Gray Potato Farm's primary focus is on growing the best fresh market red potatoes they can for their customers.
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