26 POTATO GROWER | FEBRUARY 2016
GROWER OF THE MONTH
By Tyrell Marchant
Photos courtesy of Heartland Farms
E
xpanding a
business—
especially a
farm business—is a
tricky proposition.
Doing it once is quite
a feat. Succeeding at
expansion over the
course of years, even
decades, takes a special
breed. It takes the guts
to pull the trigger on
tough decisions, the
prudence to back off
when necessary, the
curiosity to innovate,
and the wherewithal
to anticipate where the
industry as a whole is
headed.
The Pavelski and Knights families of
Wisconsin have proud histories full of just
such people. August Pavelski emigrated
from Poland in 1873 and began farming
an 80-acre homestead near Amherst
Junction, Wis. The same pioneering spirit
that drove August to cross an ocean and
parts of two continents create a new home
and life for his family still flows through
SAVVY
Heartland Farms
of Hancock, Wis.
26 POTATO GROWER | FEBRUARY 2016
A young Richard Pavelski—current
CEO of Heartland Farms—and his
parents work harvest on the original
farm in Amherst Junction, Wis.
Photos courtesy of Heartland Farms Photos courtesy of Heartland Farms
SAVVY SAVVY
Heartland Farms equipment operator Scott Hoffa,
top, loads a potato planter in spring of 2015.
