The Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) Hall of Fame honored two area growers for lifetime achievement in the development of the state’s potato industry.

The WPVGA honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the potato industry in Wisconsin by making annual Hall of Fame inductions.

This year’s WPVGA Hall of Fame inductees were Richard Pavelski and Donald Hamerski.

Richard “Dick” Pavelski is a fourth-generation farmer whose roots date back to 1873 when his great-grandfather, August Pavelski, emigrated from Poland. The farm he worked on when he was younger had some dairy cows, as well as potatoes and vegetables.

Today, Pavelski serves as the CEO/owner of Heartland Farms, Inc., one of the largest growers of chipping potatoes in the nation with over 18,000 acres of potatoes and vegetables.

Pavelski, a Stevens Point native, grew up in Amherst Junction and graduated from Pacelli High School in 1967.

In 1979, Pavelski recognized there was a need for a dedicated full-service independent fertilizer and chemical supplier/applicator in central Wisconsin who could meet the current and future needs of the agricultural industry, so he decided to build Pavelski Enterprises. Many of the technologies that are being used today were developed in that business.

He worked with the Stennis Space Center and explored utilizing satellite imagery for precision applications. He helped pioneer many of the soil-sampling techniques and variable-rate application equipment that built a foundation for what you see today. Pavelski Enterprises’ sales grew to more than $21 million annually.

In 1990, Pavelski Enterprises was sold to Growmark, and Pavelski went back and joined his brother John on the family farm to become more involved in the growing of crops once again.

After the sale, he partnered up with David Knights and created Heartland Farms, growing his operation from 550 acres to more than 18,000 acres.

During the growth of Heartland Farms, Pavelski consulted on production and storage projects in Scotland, the United Kingdom, Poland and Russia. He also partnered with two other growers to build a 7,000-acre potato farm in Mexico from 1997 to 2003. Today, Heartland Farms is one of the largest Frito Lay growers in the nation.

The quality of the potatoes goes hand-in-hand with the quality of the environment and the people working at the farm, Pavelski said.

The farm uses integrated pest management, or IPM, monitoring its fields for the presence of pests and establishing thresholds for treatment. Then it dials in on problem areas and avoids unnecessary spraying elsewhere. Crop rotation and resistance management are also keys to environmental stewardship. Habitat restoration for deer and wild turkey is part of the farm’s plan, while lupine is being planted in field corners for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. Bald eagles, waterfowl and sandhill cranes are frequent visitors to the farm.

“Sustainability is basically a three-legged stool,” Pavelski said. “We need to conserve and protect the resources we use to grow the crop; we need to make sure that we are a valuable part of the community so we get community support and ensure that our employees are taken care of from a personnel standpoint; and we also need to make some money. Financial stability is a key part of sustainability.”

The late Donald George Hamerski, Plover, a Polonia native, attended school in Stevens Point and was a 1957 graduate of P.J. Jacobs High School.

Hamerski then served in the U.S. Army National Guard and was called up for active duty in 1958 and 1961. He was released from active duty and returned to Wisconsin to serve out his remaining service obligation.

Hamerski’s grandfather, Paul, came to Plover in 1889 and started farming. Hamerski said his grandfather raised “a little bit of everything, cows, potatoes, corn, you name it.” Hamerski’s father, Joe, took over the farm in 1940, and Hamerski formed a partnership with his father in 1961.

He took over the farm in 1964, and continued to farm with his son, Jon, and his nephew, Dale O’Brien. Today, the farm raises more than 2,300 acres of potatoes, sweet corn, snap beans, sweet peas and field corn.

Although he attended a one-room school just down the road from his family’s farm, Hamerski was not an old-fashioned farmer. He readily embraced change, and was constantly looking to improve his farming operation with the latest, state-of-the-art technology and equipment.

As owner of Hamerski Farms Inc., Hamerski was a longtime member of the WPVGA.

Hamerski said he was extremely honored to receive the Century Farm Award from The Rural Life Committee of the Diocese of La Crosse in September 2013 for being in business for 100 years. He also received the Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture Award from the Portage County Business Council in 1987.

He served as the Portage County Drainage Commissioner for 27 years, served on the Portage County Planning and Zoning Committee, was a board member for Mount Morris Insurance Company, was a member of the Elks Lodge and a previous Lions Club member.

Hamerski died Aug. 9, 2016, and was buried with full military honors. He is survived by his wife, Mary (Piorkowski) Hamerski; his children, Jon (Dawn) Hamerski, and Lori (Daniel) Hoerter; his sister, Gerry (Larry) Stuczynski; and grandchildren.