By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
Steve Worzella has the advantage of having seen the family potato and vegetable operation, Worzella & Sons, Inc. of Plover, Wisconsin, through the eyes of a child.
Having grown up on the farm, he is most proud of how technology has advanced and evolved the operation, and how his family has been able to adapt and change with the times.
Representing the third generation on the farm, Steve and his brother, Scott, are co-vice presidents of the company, a 5,000 plus-acre potato and vegetable farm in the heart of Wisconsin’s Central Sands.
Their father, Norm, and his brother, Marv, were inducted into the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) Hall of Fame in February 2021.
In 1953, WPVGA Hall of Famer Clarence Worzella, Norm and Marv’s father, bought a 40-acre parcel of sandy soil near Plover and started growing potatoes under irrigation.
Norm, who has continued as chief executive officer for Worzella & Sons, says he is proud of the business’ growth, which he largely attributes to the dedicated employees the family has had in their 60 years of farming.
Marv, who is chief financial officer, adds, “We learned from our dad from a young age on. We started working with Dad in 1955, and we incorporated in 1964. Dad worked side-by-side with us and taught us how to grow vegetables and get started in farming.”
