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Alice in Dairyland

Wisconsin ag advocate visits W-F students

By Angie Landsverk


For 25 years, Sandy Dykes tried to arrange for Alice in Dairyland to visit the Weyauwega-Fremont School District.

This year, it happened.

“It’s awesome,” said Dykes, who teaches agriscience at W-F High School and is also the adviser of its FFA chapter.

Abigail Martin is the 72nd Alice in Dairyland, and she spoke to elementary, middle school and high school students during her Feb. 26 visit.

It coincided with National FFA Week.

“I really just like to share my passion for agriculture with other people,” Martin said.

She shared a bit of her story when she spoke to eighth graders.

Her presentation was about how to present concise, key messages.

She gave them an example.

“I’m a fourth generation dairy girl who loves cheese,” Martin said. “I am a farm kid. I grew up on a farm.”

Growing up on that farm by Milton, she loved to help feed the calves and cows.

Martin showed dairy and still remembers the first calf she took to the Rock County Fair.

“Her name was ‘Seven’ because she had a white seven on her head,” she told the Waupaca County Post.

Martin’s father and uncle operate the farm today.

They milk 180 cows and have about 600 acres, mostly to feed the cows, she said.

Like her dad, Martin headed to the University of Wisconsin-Madison after high school.

Her campus job was making cheese at the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant.

In 2018, she graduated with a degree in dairy science – the same degree her father obtained there.

Martin worked in the marketing department of DeLaval, a dairy supply company, for a year before running for Alice in Dairyland.

She was encouraged to run by a number of mentors.

That included her former FFA adviser, who was a past Alice herself.

Becoming Alice

Martin was selected last May, and her term ends this May.

Alice in Dairyland is a full-time position, employed by Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

“No two days of Alice are similar,” she said.

Her role is to be the state’s agriculture ambassador.

Martin said she speaks to a lot of FFA members and fourth graders.

Fourth graders in the state learn about Wisconsin’s history.

She also does a lot of industry tours, learning about other parts of the state’s agriculture industry.

Martin said Wisconsin is first in the nation in cranberries, green beans, the number of milk goats, ginseng, cheese and mink pelts.

She said agriculture contributes $104.8 billion to the state’s economy every year.

While Martin loves that Wisconsin is called America’s dairyland, she tries to focus on the industry’s diversity.

During National FFA Week, she also visited chapters in Elkhorn, Bonduel, Shawano and Pulaski.

“We were looking for chapters to visit during FFA Week,” she said.

Martin particularly sought areas of the state she had not already visited.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to see different parts of the state,” she said.

Martin learned during National FFA Week that she became a licensed cheesemaker.

She is not sure of her plans after her Alice in Dairyland term ends.

“Whatever I do next, it’ll definitely be in Wisconsin and in agriculture,” Martin said. “I love working in an industry that feeds, fuels and clothes the world.”

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