The accolades continue to pile up for Full Circle Community Farm in southeastern Shawano County.
In February, owners and operators Rick Adamski, Valerie Dantoin, Andrew Adamski, Heather Toman and Scott Rosenberg were named Marbleseed’s 2024 Farmer of the Year.
This month, the family was among those chosen as a 2024 Wisconsin Leopold Conservation Award recipient. The $10,000 award honors farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners who go above and beyond in their management of soil health, water quality and wildlife habitat on working land.
The latest announcement was made at the Dec. 5 meeting of the Shawano County Land Conservation Committee.
Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the award recognizes landowners who inspire others to consider conservation opportunities on their land. In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold called for “a land ethic,” an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage.
“We bank our wealth in the soil and the nutrients stored there,” Valerie Dantoin said of her family’s approach to farming.
Their 240-acre farm is covered with a green, protective blanket year-round thanks to the managed grazing system that she and husband Rick Adamski have established.
Soil tests routinely show their pastures’ organic matter is 2% higher than neighboring tilled corn and soybean fields. It is estimated that every 1% increase in organic matter helps hold 20,000 gallons more water per acre, which helps withstand deluges and droughts.
In addition to improving soil’s organic matter levels and ability to infiltrate water, permanently covered pastures also help sequester carbon. Adamski and Dantoin have followed the guidelines for biodiversity, soil and water conservation to maintain their farm’s organic certification since the 1990s.
“If we could not farm in an environmentally friendly way, we wouldn’t farm at all,” Dantoin said.
That sentiment means making sure their cattle herd size matches the carrying capacity of their land. Since retiring from milking dairy cows in 2014, they rotationally graze a herd of 100 beef cattle. For 25 years, they have composted all their cattle’s winter manure.
At Full Circle Farm, Adamski and Dantoin’s son, Andrew, and his wife, Heather Toman, are helping usher in its next life stage, a return to a diversified farm. They manage about 60 pigs and a flock of laying hens on pasture, raise 10 acres of vegetables and have established a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) business.
Full Circle Farm feeds about 1,000 people weekly through its 150 CSA shares and sales at farmers markets. Andrew Adamski experiments with bio-char and vertical tillage on vegetable crops as part of his master’s degree study on soil health.
Rick Adamski and Dantoin have founded two farm cooperatives focused on fair prices for sustainably produced food and ensuring that other conservation-minded farms have access to mid-sized markets.
Full Circle Farm regularly hosts field days, including events targeted to female landowners who want to learn about establishing pollinator habitat and riparian buffers. Dantoin co-founded the Wisconsin Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program and is a conservation coach for Wisconsin Women in Conservation. She previously led GrassWorks, a statewide organization that promotes grazing’s conservation benefits.
Rick Adamski served as president of Wisconsin Farmers Union and has been a consultant for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
The Adamski family has planted several hundred shrubs, and oak and cedar trees. Riparian buffers along a waterway were expanded to 30 feet. Fence lines and hedgerows border Full Circle Farm’s 25 fields. These areas and a farm pond provide habitat and migration corridors for badger, fox, pheasants, green heron, Sandhill cranes and Hungarian partridge.
“It is ethical to leave a corner of the farm as wetlands for frogs and migrating waterfowl,” Dantoin recently wrote regarding her land ethic.
“The ethical thing to do is to care for the land, soil and water as if our children’s children are the ones who will farm after we are gone. It is ethical to enjoy the sunset and see the fruits of your labors, to revel in the richness of the land all around you, and to never once wonder what it’s worth.”
Wisconsin farmers are on the frontlines of progress when it comes to preserving the future of agriculture, said Wisconsin Farm Bureau President Brad Olson.
“We appreciate Full Circle Farm’s well-founded conservation approach, and we congratulate them on their efforts,” he said.
Randy Romanski, Wisconsin Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, praised Adamski and Dantoin for being successful farmers, community leaders and stewards of Wisconsin’s land and water.
“The Adamski family exemplify how to practice conservation, operate a successful business and educate others on lessons learned in the field and on the farm,” he said.
A video celebrating the Shawano County farm family’s conservation success was premiered during the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting Dec. 8.
Sand County Foundation and national sponsor American Farmland Trust present Leopold Conservation Awards to private landowners in 28 states. In Wisconsin the award is presented with Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.
Full Circle honored for conservation efforts
