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A woman in jeans and work boots poses in front of a pile of stored potatoes

May/June 2025
Potato power: Alicia Pavelski connects industry, community By Melinda Waldrop, Managing Editor

2025 Spudwoman of the Year wears many hats at Heartland Farms

Of all the ways Alicia Pavelski imagined using her degree in architectural engineering, overseeing the building of the World’s Largest Potato Masher probably didn’t top the list.

That’s just one of the ideas she’s helped turn into reality at Heartland Farms, a 27,000-acre potato and vegetable farm in Hancock, Wisconsin. Farm co-owner, with husband Jeremie Pavelski, and community relations/project director, Alicia also spearheads Heartland’s sustainability and educational efforts.

Her multifaceted leadership has included establishing the Heartland Farm Operations, Technology & Training Center and its Food + Farm Exploration Center, which has drawn approximately 50,000 visitors since its December 2023 opening. Her combined contributions to the farm and the community have earned her 2025 Spudwoman of the Year honors.

Alicia Pavelski, co-owner of Heartland Farms in Hancock, Wisconsin, is the 2025 Spudwoman of the Year. Photo by K Mueller Photography.

She claimed the title 14 years after moving to Hancock from Milwaukee following her engagement to Jeremie.

“He suggested I just come to the farm until I found another job in my career field,” Alicia said. “I was so fortunate to be able to go around to different departments and see what the farm was like and learn about it, because I do not have a farming background. I kind of just fell in love and became ingrained in it.”

She discovered that potato farming wasn’t that far afield from her original plan.

“My degree and what I did was architectural engineering with an emphasis on electrical, so power distribution, solar panels, everything that’s electrical,” she said. “It’s amazing how much there is of that on modern farms. Also the project management side of the things — we’re always building and growing at Heartland.”

THINKING BIG

Eye-catching evidence of that stands nearly 39 feet tall at the entrance to
the Food + Farm Exploration Center, a 24-acre agritourism initiative in nearby Plover, Wisconsin. Its STEM gallery includes a life-size pivot irrigator and tractor cab simulator, while the Seedlings Children’s Gallery, kitchen lab and farm demonstration fields provide hands-on learning opportunities.

“That was an idea we had as a family in 2017, originally,” said Alicia, who was the Exploration Center’s project manager and served as its board president. “We wanted to create a place for the community and agritourism, and for different industry people, to show everything there is in agriculture, now and into the future.”

The center received a $10,000 gift from the Midwest Food Products Association last month to further its education mission.

People pose in front of a 39-foot potato masher sculpture at Heartland Farms
Heartland Farms’ Food + Farm Exploration Center includes the World’s Largest Potato Masher at its entrance. Photo courtesy of Alicia Pavelski.

The center’s most noticeable feature is a 38-foot 11-inch, 7,500-pound steel potato masher that stretches into the sky, serving as a head-turning tribute to Wisconsin’s agricultural industry.

“It started off as a joke with our exhibit designers,” Alicia said.

Alicia offhandedly asked Idaho Steel, working on Heartland’s potato dehydration facility, about the idea.

“They were like, ‘We can do it.’ So we ended up building it, and it has been such a fun thing to have on site,” Alicia said.

People pull over for selfies, she said, and the local baseball team, the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, will wear special jerseys for one game this summer, when they’ll be the Mashers.

“To see something really bring our community together and show them that agriculture is really a big part of this area has been amazing,” Alicia said.

The sculpture symbolizes Alicia’s ability to connect with the community, Jeremie Pavelski said.

“She’s got a knack for understanding what’s going to drive people to certain things,” he said. “She just has that knack of being able to get other people excited about things, whether it’s the world’s largest potato masher, the way the (center) experiences have been built with interactive displays, or understanding that the adult population might want to have mixology or cooking classes along with looking at really cool equipment.”

A smiling woman sits in front of a bank of stored potatoes
Whether it’s building an educational center or a 39-foot potato masher, Alicia Pavelski’s goal is to remain a unifying voice for the potato industry and its people. Photo by K Mueller Photography.

Andy Diercks of Coloma Farms grows potatoes six miles from Heartland. He has worked with Alicia in state potato associations and has served on the Food + Farm Exploration Center board for several years.

“I’ve watched Alicia do an unbelievable amount of work on that project,” Diercks said. “It’s fantastic. (It’s) relevant to the challenge we face in trying to reconnect people to their food and find the next generation of employees for our farms and processors.”

Diercks, who also has an engineering background, was especially impressed with how quickly the center came together despite the challenges of procurement and cost of materials stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“She’s got such a nice personality for bringing people to the table and asking very kindly: ‘Can you come in and be a part of this conversation?’ She can build people up,” Diercks said. “She’s always got a smile on her face. I’ve never seen her upset, which is not normal in this industry.”

A woman stands, smiling, in front of a pond, her long brown hair lifting in a breeze
Alicia Pavelski makes a point to pursue continuing education classes on subjects related to sustainability. Photo by K Mueller Photography.

SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS

Community connections also drive Alicia’s commitment to sustainability — a deeply rooted concept at Heartland Farms.

The farm operates high-speed irrigation systems with drop nozzles, allowing for faster water application and less evapotranspiration. It also uses variable rate irrigation, applying different water amounts to different soil types to reduce overall water usage, and its remotely monitored systems use real-time rainfall information to turn on and off.

Heartland Farms has also fully converted to LED lighting, uses modern, fuel-efficient equipment, and employs cover crops to reduce wind erosion and add nutrients and organic matter to the soil.

“There’s the actual science of sustainability, and we do a lot of that at the farm, and I help with information gathering and reporting and working with our customers and vendors on different technologies that could help,” Alicia said. “But I really feel a big part of sustainability is the education side of it, because without educating the public, other farmers, consumers and everyone else, just one initiative won’t get very far.

“That’s one of my big initiatives for the Food + Farm Exploration Center and the tours and different things that we do at Heartland is to really spread that word: ‘Here’s what we’re doing, but the whole potato industry is doing these things, and here’s why.’”

That philosophy is borne out by the continuing education Alicia pursues, such as the MIT class she just completed on sustainability strategies. And it was cited by one of her Spudwoman nominators, who wrote: “Alicia’s commitment to sustainability is profound. She actively pursues ongoing education in sustainability practices, participating in certificate programs at accredited universities, and consistently integrates new, innovative ideas into the farm’s operations.”

Steven James, senior director, North American Potatoes, at Frito Lay, has observed Alicia’s community- and land-centered priorities in working with Heartland Farms.

“Alicia stands as a pillar of excellence within the potato industry and her broader community,” James said via email. “Her unwavering leadership, determination and thoughtful stewardship are evident in all her endeavors. The Food + Farm Exploration Center exemplifies her commitment to education, innovation and unity.

“It not only celebrates the vast possibilities within agriculture but also nurtures a deeper understanding of our food systems among future generations.”

FARM AND FAMILY

While it’s a running joke that Alicia does a bit of everything at Heartland Farms but doesn’t have an official title, Jeremie has one all-encompassing name for her.

“In simple terms, we call her Farm Mom,” he said. “She works with a lot of us. If we have little disputes, she helps settle those, but at the same time, she always makes sure that she keeps us on our feet and doing what we need to do, and also bridges the gap from a community standpoint. She’s our Farm Mom.”

Alicia and Jeremie’s 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte, is following in the family farm footsteps. She loves bringing her friends to Heartland Farms, her parents said, and can often be found in the fry lab or potato flake plant.

A family of three - dad, daughter and mom - poses in front of a large truck.
Alicia Pavelski and husband Jeremie co-own Heartland Farms, where daughter Charlotte, 7, can often be found in the fry lab or potato flake plant. Photo courtesy of Alicia Pavelski.

“She has her own little smock and hairnet — the whole nine yards,” Alicia said. “She just loves being everywhere and learning everything. … I think family and farming go hand-in-hand, for sure. It really does just build a stronger relationship when your entire family can be involved in something.

“At Heartland we like to say we’re a family of families, and it is so true. We have multiple families with fathers, sons, wives — entire families working at the farm. It is just awesome to see. It just makes it a different level of teamwork, where we’re all in it together.”

Seeing the farm’s impact on future generations is one of the most fulfilling parts of her work, Alicia said.

“I was at my daughter’s school, and I walked past a classroom and they were doing one of the lessons from the Exploration Center,” she said. “The teachers were talking about how much they loved it, and hearing the kids getting into it — without any prior knowledge that they were going to be doing it — was really neat to see.”

Open now for a year and half, the Food + Farm Exploration Center has already drawn more than 50,000 visitors, Alicia said — many more than once.

“People just keep coming back,” she said. “We’re located in a pretty small town in Wisconsin. We’ve had more visitors through the door of our center than live in this town. People really do want to know. They want to know what modern farming is, and the attendance numbers really show that.”

A woman poses in front of large red-and-white sign
Alicia Pavelski established Heartland Farms’ Food Operations Technology & Training Center as part of her community outreach efforts. Photo by K Mueller Photography.

Whether it’s building an educational center or a 39-foot potato masher, Alicia’s goal is to remain a unifying voice for the potato industry and its people.

“When I say industry, I’m not just talking farmers,” she said. “It’s also equipment dealers, financial institutions, insurance companies, higher education that works with agriculture, the customers and manufacturers. I feel like my work with the Exploration Center has really put me in a unique spot with a lot of industry insight, and I’ve been working my hardest to just be that advocate to work with all sectors of the industry to tell the story and bring people together.”



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