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The Changing Face Of Vermont Agriculture: Talking Soybeans With The Marszalkowski Family

photo provided Standing by the land they love, both the Marszalkowski family members and the farm staff pause to look out at the fields of soybeans on a crisp Vermont autumn afternoon.

photo provided Captured on film and still a part of the link between generations Adam’s Farm in Rhode Island saw the first of four generations still involved with the planting of crops and the stewardship of the land.

photo provided Crop farming in Vermont requires special equipment and a lot of it.

photo provided Soybeans are new to the valley in the past 50 years but steadily gaining popularity.

Tuesday October 1, 2013

By Cookie Steponaitis

The Marszalkowski family like many fourth generation farm families chooses to live and work the farming lifestyle but find themselves at a crossroads. The traditional formula of a small family farm has been replaced with diversified agriculture and finding a niche in the agricultural business.
    Rick Marszalkowski grew up in a farm family who are still operating today and married Dawn  in 1985 in Rhode Island. Rick’s grandfather immigrated to America from Poland in the early 1920’s and established the family farm in Rhode Island naming it Adam’s Farm.
“The farm was a working dairy farm until the early ‘60’s,” shared Rick. “Hay was grown and the animals were pastured on two hundred acres that makes up the farm. Hay is still grown today and the farm sells it to local equestrian schools.”
    When the family branched out to purchase land in Addison County in 1985 all hay grown on the new Green Mountain State property was originally shipped to be used on the Rhode Island farm. Rick and Dawn introduced beef cattle to the farm in 1989 and over time the herd grew to a combined six hundred cows and calves. “It was 1995 when soybeans were first grown on the farm,” shared Dawn. “That year we also purchased our first combine needed to harvest the crops. To date we have expanded to grow soybeans, corn, and wheat on 1,750 acres. Joseph is the only one of our kids that works on the farm along with two full time employees Chad Kennett and Dan Tompkins.”
    Rick feels like many Vermont farmers that one of the greatest factors impacting the level of change in Vermont agriculture currently is the advancements in new seed technology. “This has really benefitted the farming community,” remarked Rick. “That and innovations in machinery and labor saving devices have changed how people farm and what people plant.
 Crops need to have a rotation and soybeans are a legume that is an excellent rotation for corn.  It is combined and stored here on the farm and then trucked to the Port of Montreal where it is loaded on freighters and shipped to ports over the world.”
    While enjoying not only the diversity of each season Rick and Dawn speak of their passion for farming. “When you have a passion for what you do and you can make a living at it you stick with what works,” the couple concluded. “Our children are the fourth generation being raised on the family farm.”  While many would look for the Marszalkowski name to mark the entrance to the Addison family farm Rick and Dawn are traditionalists and proudly bear the name of the original farm in Rhode Island that Rick’s grandfather Adam named Adam’s Farm after himself carrying on the tradition that provides another link among family, farm, agriculture and the love of the land.

The Valley Voice salutes all Vermont farming families and celebrates not only the tenacity of these farmers, but the adaptability and vision to create an ever changing array of products, services linking Vermont to an ever expanding global market.

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