Dairy Farmer Advocates for Milk Label

Dairy farmer Joanna Lidback, who runs The Farm at Wheeler Mountain in Westmore, Vermont, USA is amplifying the farmers voice about the use of the word ‘milk’. Her advocacy comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently made the decision that plant-based drinks can call themselves ‘milk’ and she joins lawmakers in Vermont in the debate over that use of the ‘milk’ label.

In her WCAX interview, Joanna explains, “If it comes from an animal, it’s milk. I think that we have real milk. We have milk which is lactated by mammals. We have cows and this is their job.” She says dairy farmers have earned the right to use the milk label and the marketplace benefits that come with it and that alternative products lean on the name as a marketing tactic.

Lidback is a member of the Global Farmer Network. She is a 2021 Kleckner Award for Global Farm Leadership award recipient.

Joanna Lidback

Joanna Lidback volunteers as a board member and treasurer for the Global Farmer Network, and has been recognized by the GFN as a 2021 Kleckner Award for Global Farm Leadership award recipient. She is a dairy farmer, a Chief Financial Officer, a business consultant, a mom, and a wife. Joanna and her husband own and operate the Farm at Wheeler Mountain in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, USA. It's an 80-cow herd of Holsteins and Jerseys, where they also raise their own replacements and have a small beef cattle herd. Joanna is CFO at ADK Farms, where they take care of over 7,500 dairy cows and steward over 8,000 acres of land. She is also the principal consultant at Adirondack Management Services, coaching 10 other dairy farms toward reaching their own goals.