One week after the Kent County Agriculture Hall of Fame inductees were announced, the Lambton Agriculture Hall of Fame has followed suit.
This year’s honourees include Carolynne Griffith, a retired chicken farmer. In 2002, Griffith was elected chair of the Egg Farmers of Ontario, becoming the first woman to achieve this position and served for fifteen years. She also served as director of the Food and Farm Care Canada Foundation from 2012-2016.
“I know I have been one of the luckiest people in the world,” Griffith said. “Having been born and raised on a farm in Southern Ontario, a child of solid, smart, wise parents and grandparents who allowed me to do anything any boy could do!”
Charlie Srokosz was an accomplished farmer from the marsh at Erieau and became one of the first to farm the area known as the Thedford Bog. He was granted a lifetime achievement award from the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association in 2002. Srokosz passed away in 2018.
This year’s final inductee is Mac Parker, who began his interest in agriculture as a member of the Watford 4H Beef Club and bought his first farm when he was just 16 years old. Later in his career, serving as president of the Lambton Federation of Agriculture, Parker was an active grassroots initiator of stable funding for farm organizations, leading to the Ontario Farm Registry Program. His resume includes serving as president of the Ontario Polled Shorthorn Club, Director with the Ontario Performance Testing Association, and three terms as mayor of Warwick Township and the Township of Warwick-Watford.
The class of 2022 was honoured during an online event this past Friday, and a reception at the Lambton Heritage Museum on Sunday.