Award Honorees

Co-founder and chairman of Stonyfield Farm, Hirshberg has seen the company grow from a seven-cow organic farming school in 1983 to $360 million in annual sales keeping hundreds of organic farmers in business and over 200,000 acres managed using organic practices. The company has also become a model for socially and environmentally responsible businesses, establishing a “Profits for the Planet” program that commits $2 million of its yearly profits to efforts that help protect and restore the Earth. In fact, through this program, Stonyfield was the lead donor in establishing the University of New Hampshire Organic Dairy Research Farm, the first of its kind at a land-grant university.

Hirshberg also was instrumental in the creation of Organic Voices, the parent organization behind the Just Label It campaign which he chairs. Other activities include his appointment by the Obama Administration to the Advisory Committee for Trade and Policy Negotiations; his position as a co-chair of the food and agriculture policy effort AGree; his ongoing support for organic research; and his role in advancing the discussion of the organic cause in Washington by arranging a meeting of key organic industry leaders with President Obama.