NEWPORT — The Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame recently announced the 2019 inductees. Now in its 17th year, the Hall has inducted 80 Vermonters to date.
Joanna Samuelson Lidback, of The Farm at Wheeler Mountain in Westmore, was inducted as a merging leader, and Jack and Anne Lazor, of Butterworks Farm in Westfield, were inducted for lifetime achievement.
Emerging Leader: Stepping Up to Become the Next Generation of Leaders (age 40 and under) Joanna Samuelson Lidback, Westmore
Lidback is a farmer, agricultural business consultant, 4-H volunteer, and family farm advocate.
Together with her husband Adam, she owns The Farm at Wheeler Mountain, a family dairy farm located in Westmore.
Lidback earned a BS in Applied Economics and Business Management from Cornell, and an MBA from Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. She is currently employed as Business Consultant for Yankee Farm Credit.
In this role, she helps dairy farmers with the challenges of developing business, estate, and succession plans.
Her love of farming extends well beyond the boundaries of Vermont. She is a Board Member with the Global Farmer Network – a non-profit advocacy group led by farmers from around the world.
She has also testified on behalf of Vermont farmers before the US House and Agriculture Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee in Washington, D.C.
Lidback was honored by the American Jersey Cattle Association with the Young Jersey Breeder Award in 2016. S
She was an active member of the Agri-Mark Young Cooperators Program and served as a YC Representative from 2012-2015.
She is also active in the Vermont Farm Bureau and currently serves as First Vice President of the Orleans County Farm Bureau.
She and Adam are raising three young children together on the family farm.
Lifetime Achievement: 30+ Years of Outstanding Service to Vermont Agriculture, Jack and Anne Lazor, Westfield
Jack and Anne Lazor began farming in 1976. For more than forty years, they have built a reputation for producing outstanding organic yogurt, stewarding the land, and advocating for organic agriculture.
Their Butterworks Farm grass-fed yogurt is sold in nearly 80 groceries and coops across Vermont and in neighboring states.
Together with a dedicated team, they produce some of the finest organic yogurt available.
Anne and Jack have been a steadfast team in farming, family, and life.
Jack is a teacher and a member of the “Agrarian Elders,” a group of twenty-four pioneers considered to be the founders of organic agriculture in the U.S.
Over the years, both he and Anne have devoted themselves to teaching the next generation of farmers how to raise animals, steward the land, and produce products ethically and sustainably.
Farming is a family affair for the Lazors, who raised their daughter, Christine, together at Butterworks.
Today, the Lazors enjoy sharing their love of agriculture, and Butterworks Farm, with their grandchildren.
