Colleen Staples - Nominated by the Lindsay Agricultural Society

Colleen has been an incredibly dedicated volunteer with the Lindsay Agricultural Society (LAS) and the Kawartha Lakes Agricultural Awareness Committee for several years now. She has served as the chair of the LAS Agricultural Awareness committee for the past three years. Colleen is continually seeking new ideas to freshen up the Kids Corner & Ag Awareness Area at the Lindsay Central Exhibition.

One of the changes that was implemented thanks to Colleen’s vision was our small corn table was replaced with a 10’ x 10’ corn box that children were able to get right into to play with the toy farm equipment.   Several of these items were donated by the Kawartha Jr. Farmers’ Club two years ago at Colleen’s request. This year we also distributed reusable cloth bags with the slogan “If you ate today, thank a farmer” on one side and on the reverse recognized the various commodity groups and association who support (financially or otherwise) the efforts of the Ag Awareness Committee. Colleen works tirelessly and she is always conscience to include all commodities in discussions when planning for the display area.

Colleen has also chaired the Kawartha Lakes Agricultural Awareness Committee’s A Taste of Kawartha Country, a hugely popular program for grade 3 students in the City of Kawartha Lakes to learn about farming practices and agriculture.



Yvonne Hoggart - Nominated by the Huron Perth Ag and Water Festival

Yvonne Hoggart is a woman who gives of her time to help all whether it is with neighbours, community, church or the youth of today. She has been a member of the Huron Perth Ag and Water Festival for countless years. Her first job with this organization was with the Red Meat Section namely the Beef end of it. She was instrumental in creating a part of this with the "How Beef farmers treat their calves"  in much the same way as a Mother takes care of you (namely the children at the event). OCA took this and created a plan that all could use at many of the school centered events. She also is the one who makes sure that the volunteers get fed at the same event every year. She gets the food and people to serve it, from the surrounding area. All the meals are wonderful. In her spare time she spends lots of time with her grandchildren, numbering close to or at 13 by the time she is at your event. 

In our community she helps with dinners and banquets done by the Londesboro United Church Women. Mutiple Sclerosis walks are another thing that she participates in. In our community she is among the many people to help when we have a concern for neighbours or just a wonderful wedding shower for all the girls within her area.

Back to the HPAWF Yvonne took the initiative to create a Beef area walk through and teach the children about beef farming. This was put together because of the fear of live animals at fairs and events such as ours. This walk took the children through imaginary fields and into the barn as well as seeing some of the items that also come from beef cattle.  Yvonne helped to create the project for HPAWF that was "Farmers have many pockets" which showed the children some of the things that farmers may carry in their pockets, and again made a pair of jeans with many pockets which contained questions for children. They rolled a dice and then answered the question asked of them. This was a spin off of some of the many classes she attended to promote farming to children and others. Years ago she became an agricultural advocate through OAFE.

Yvonne's husband Harvey has been president of the Huron County Beef Producers for 3 years and in that time she has been a great help to him in preparing booths at the local fairs to promote beef to the public. She has put together questions for people to answer to win a door prize so that they can come away with more knowledge of farming. At any beef event she is there to help from start to finish and also has helped with the planning of Farm tours.

Their farm was once on the Farm Hiker Tour in Huron County.

Yvonne is well deserving of this award and will in the future be a great advocate for Agriculture in the Classroom projects. Congratulations Yvonne and the best for the coming years.


Lisa Geisberger - Nominated by Durham Farm Connections

Lisa is always reaching out to lend a hand, whether it to family, friends, her church or the community at large. She co-ordinates the Meals on Wheels volunteer schedule for Community Care in Clarington and regularly volunteers at the Foot Clinics. She is a strong volunteer in her church community, working on many committees and organizational events. Lisa has served on school council both at the local and regional level. She has been instrumental in helping to plan and implement Farm Connections Elementary Ag Awareness Program as a member of the steering committee. She serves as secretary, crops station chair and mural coordinator. Her family is renowned in the area for their association with the grains industry and Lisa has used her connections effectively to plan and implement the crops station of our event since its inception. She works tirelessly to provide interesting and novel presentations at our event and facilitates the inclusion of a wide variety of volunteers into her program. She turns her hand to any task and is always open to serve others. Farm Connections and other non-profit organizations in our area thrive and benefit due to the efforts of this amazingly calm, humble, efficient individual. Thanks for everything, Lisa



Collette McFadden - Nominated by the Sunderland Agricultural Society

Collette McFadden has a long and dedicated history in the rural community of Sunderland and the surrounding townships. She is extremely knowledgeable about the importance of building awareness and understanding of the importance of agriculture and food systems. She began her own education at an early age showing at fairs. She fondly shares the excitement she felt when parading her own calf in front of the grandstand in 1965. Her involvement with the fairs and exhibitions continues to this day.