Adam Azevedo (continued)

Adam proudly carries on his family's membership in the Organic Valley cooperative, a relationship that started with his Dad in 1995. He tips his hat to an organization he says recruits people who are truly committed to organic. And, it's not a nameless, faceless buyer that purchases Azevedo's milk, but a farmer-owned cooperative that knows its members on a first-name basis.

When Azevedo heard that California State University at Chico's organic dairy was joining the Organic Valley cooperative, he came up with the idea of a program to 'Send a Cow to College'—a partnership with Chico's dairy education program and Organic Valley. Adam solicited donations of cows from Organic Valley farmers up and down the Western seaboard to seed the university's organic dairy.

Azevedo likes to set goals—the higher the better. He has outlined his own personal work challenge: To produce organic foodstuffs without sacrificing quality. He is already seeing the fruits of his organic labor in soil quality, which improves each year as he rotates crops and mindfully amends the soil. Ambition plus optimism—it's a fruitful combination. The possibilities are limitless for this young "Gen-O" dairy farmer.