World Dairy Expo just announced three honorees who, between them, have shaped how North America breeds, benchmarks, and builds dairy herds. Here’s why each one earned it.
World Dairy Expo doesn’t hand out its Recognition Awards for showing up. The three names on the 2026 list — Oakfield Corners Dairy, Corey Geiger, and Robert Chicoine — represent six decades of genetics infrastructure, a media and economics career that changed how producers think about their milk cheque, and a family operation that went from 65 cows in 1965 to more than 10,000 across two states without losing its grip on cow care or the show ring.
The honorees will be celebrated at the Recognition Awards Banquet on Tuesday, September 29, during WDE’s return to Madison, Wisconsin, September 27 through October 2, 2026. Banquet tickets go live at worlddairyexpo.com on July 1.
Oakfield Corners Dairy: 2026 Dairy Producers of the Year
Sixty‑one years ago, the Lamb family started milking about 65 cows in Oakfield, New York. Today, 12th‑generation farmers Jonathan and Alicia Lamb, Matthew and Kendra Lamb, and long‑time partners Jim Veazey and Janette Veazey‑Post oversee more than 10,000 milking and dry cows, a similar number of youngstock, and over 15,000 acresacross New York and Ohio. The name on the award is Oakfield Corners Dairy. Still, the scope behind it is Lamb Farms Inc. — a multi‑site, multi‑generation partnership in which the Lamb family drives cows, genetics, and facilities, In contrast, the Veazey family leads cropping, nutrient management, and the business office.
The production numbers back the reputation. Oakfield’s energy‑corrected milk average now tops 110 pounds per cow per day, and the herd has an 18‑year streak of milk‑quality awards — the kind of consistency you don’t get by accident at any scale, let alone with 10,000 cows and 150 employees spread across multiple sites. A 60‑cow rotary, double‑herringbone parlors, and a 72‑stall GEA DairyProQ robotic rotary — that last one milking about 1,800 cows on its own — keep the system running, with a labor model built for reality, not brochures.
Two Tracks, Both Running
What sets Oakfield apart from a lot of large‑herd operations is that the genetics program didn’t get swallowed by the commercial side. About 75% of their embryo program drives a high‑index, genomics‑focused commercial engine. The other 25% feeds a deliberately small, intense show‑type nucleus — roughly 28 cows managed separately so the tanbark doesn’t bend the 10,000‑cow system.
On the commercial side, the Soy cow family tells the story. In a 2026 proof run, the Trooper son 7HO16276 OCD TROOPER SHEEPSTER‑ET — out of OCD Acura Soy 60075‑ET EX‑90 — posted GTPI 3572, NM$ 1,111, +203 lbcombined fat and protein, PL +5.5, SCS 2.90, and type +0.69. Wide chests, strong udders, robot‑ready, and pushing components. That’s the commercial blueprint, scaled through the implantation of over 4,500 embryos annually, using their own herd as the recipient pool.
On the show side? The results speak for themselves. Oakfield Solom Footloose‑ET EX‑96, bred and developed at Oakfield, was Supreme Champion at World Dairy Expo in 2022 and came back as Grand Champion Holstein in 2024. Lovhill Sidekick Kandy Cane EX‑96, owned and exhibited by Oakfield Corners, won Grand Champion of the 2025 International Holstein Show and Reserve Supreme Champion at WDE — all while carrying more than 125,000 lb of lifetime milk. Hurcroft Awe Lillyann‑Red EX‑97 has anchored their Red & White program. Premier Breeder banners in the Red & White Show (2018) and the International Holstein Show (2022), plus a Best Three Females title in 2024, round out the hardware.
And they’ve done it while building Oakfield Artisanal, a value‑added cheese line developed with input from Hispanic employees who couldn’t find familiar cheeses locally. Queso fresco, Oaxaca, Chihuahua — small in scale, big in what it says about how this operation thinks about its people.
Read more: Oakfield Corners Dairy (OCD) – Dairy Breeder Video Interview
Robert Chicoine: 2026 International Person of the Year
He walked into CIAQ in 1966 and backed a bull the entire industry rejected. Six decades later, Robert Chicoine’s fingerprints are on the genetic evaluation systems, progeny testing programs, and the Semex Alliance that delivers Canadian genetics to more than 80 countries. World Dairy Expo’s 2026 International Person of the Year. (Photo: Gilles Poitras)
Robert Chicoine’s career is one of those stories where you keep peeling layers and finding more infrastructure underneath. He grew up in Saint‑Pie‑de‑Bagot, Quebec, on a small mixed farm milking 15–20 cows. He read The Holstein‑Friesian Journal cover to cover, memorized performance tables, and earned his B.Sc. Agr. and Master’s Degree in Animal Breeding at Université Laval, and walked into the Centre d’insémination artificielle du Québec (CIAQ) as a dairy sire analyst in 1966. From there, he essentially helped build the plumbing that modern Canadian genetics runs on.
At a time when AI decisions in Quebec were driven mostly by pedigree, reputation, and show‑ring appearance, Chicoine championed genetic indexes. He launched progeny testing built on breeder herds, becoming the first analyst in Canada to insist that every sire decision run through data. That push forced CIAQ to overhaul its data collection and evaluation methods — laying groundwork for what became the Canadian Dairy Network.
The Bull Nobody Wanted
The Senator story is the one that sticks. The bull — 73HO101 Senator — had a dam picture breeders didn’t like and markings that made registration drawings a headache. Field staff steered clear, and CIAQ reportedly told inseminators to use Senator only when a farmer just wanted “any” test bull. Chicoine backed the data. He kept Senator in the sampling stream, watched his daughters performance prove him out, and the rest is pedigree history — Senator’s genetics eventually spread through a huge share of Canadian Holsteins and show up in the pedigrees of Madison champions.
It’s a great story on its own. But it’s really a stand‑in for the larger point of Chicoine’s career: build systems where good data can win, even when the eye says otherwise.
He went on to serve about 14 years as general manager of CIAQ, founded Boviteq to bring embryo transfer into the AI business model in the 1980s, and launched a national progeny testing program for coloured dairy breeds in 1987. He was a driving force behind CDN and DairyGen, centralizing genetic evaluation nationally. And when it came time to unify Canada’s genetics export strategy, Chicoine became the first general manager of The Semex Alliance — bringing CIAQ, WestGen, and other partners together in a collaborative model that now delivers Canadian genetics to more than 80 countries.
Laval awarded him a Ph.D. honoris causa. The Ordre national du Québec named him a Knight in 2010. The Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted him in 2023. And at 60 years into this career, he still shows up in roles around genetic resource conservation. The International Person of the Year award feels less like a capstone and more like a long‑overdue public acknowledgment of how much of the modern breeding system one person helped wire together.
Read more: Robert Chicoine and the Bull Nobody Wanted: The Data Revolution That Lives in Your Herd’s DNA
Corey Geiger: 2026 Industry Person of the Year
From the editor’s desk to the economist’s chair — without ever leaving the barn. Corey Geiger spent nearly 30 years at Hoard’s Dairyman, including 14 as managing editor, still co-owns his family’s sixth-generation Wisconsin dairy, and now shapes industry economics as CoBank’s Lead Dairy Economist. World Dairy Expo’s 2026 Industry Person of the Year.
If you’ve read a sharp breakdown of dairy economics in the last three decades, there’s a good chance Corey Geiger’s fingerprints are on it. The Wisconsin native grew up on his family’s sixth‑generation dairy near Reedsville, studied dairy science and agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and spent nearly 30 years at Hoard’s Dairyman — including about 14 as managing editor — turning that publication into one of the industry’s most trusted voices on cost of production, policy, and market dynamics. Along the way, he helped launch Hoard’s Dairyman China and Spanish‑language editions, expanding the brand’s reach well beyond the Midwest.
Today, as Lead Dairy Economist at CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange division, Geiger sits where capital meets cows. CoBank is a cornerstone of the Farm Credit System, and Geiger’s analysis shapes how lenders, co‑ops, and policymakers think about where dairy is headed. His recent work has highlighted a 4.23% national milkfat average in 2024 — record territory — and the implications of an 800,000‑head hole in the U.S. replacement heifer inventory after the 2022–24 beef‑on‑dairy wave. When the April 2025 genetic base change rolled butterfat back by 45 lb and protein by 30 lb, Geiger was one of the first voices to connect that magnitude directly to what it means for milk cheque math on real farms.
What makes him different from a lot of industry economists is that he still co‑owns part of the family dairy. He’s not just modeling the margins — he’s living them. That blend of farm boots, editorial credibility, and lending‑sector analysis is exactly the kind of career WDE’s Industry Person of the Year award was built to recognize.
Three Winners, One Clear Signal
What ties these three together isn’t just résumé length. It’s that each one built something — a herd system, an analytical platform, a national genetics infrastructure — that other people now rely on without always knowing it.
Oakfield Corners proved you can run a 10,000‑cow operation and still chase Grand Champions, quality awards, and employee culture without one track undermining the other. Geiger made economic analysis accessible and honest enough that producers actually use it instead of filing it. Chicoine built the evaluation architecture that Canadian breeders — and breeders in 80‑plus countries — now take for granted every time they pull up a proof sheet.
Madison is going to feel a little different when these three take the stage on September 29. If you’re planning to attend World Dairy Expo this fall, the Recognition Awards Banquet is one evening you’ll want to block out. Tickets open July 1 at worlddairyexpo.com.
Key Takeaways
- Oakfield Corners Dairy went from 65 cows in 1965 to more than 10,000 across New York and Ohio — earning WDE’s 2026 Dairy Producers of the Year while stacking 18 straight years of milk‑quality awards and Grand Champion banners on the coloured shavings.
- Robert Chicoine built much of the evaluation and AI infrastructure that Canadian and international breeding programs run on today — from genetic indexes and progeny testing at CIAQ to the Semex Alliance’s reach into 80+ countries.
- Corey Geiger brought farm experience, editorial reach, and lending‑sector analysis together in a career that’s shaped how producers and policymakers think about dairy economics — from milkfat records to the 800,000‑head heifer gap.
- The Recognition Awards Banquet takes place Tuesday, September 29 during World Dairy Expo in Madison (September 27 – October 2, 2026). Tickets go live July 1 at worlddairyexpo.com.
Continue the Story
- Jon-De Farm: The Wisconsin Dairy That Proved Bigger Isn’t Always Better – This breeder profile walks a similar path to the Lambs, exploring a multi-generational family that wrestled with the same question of scale. It proves the point that cow care remains the heart of success, regardless of herd size.
- Robert Chicoine and the Bull Nobody Wanted: The Data Revolution That Lives in Your Herd’s DNA – This deep dive into Robert Chicoine’s legacy explores the industry forces and “facts-first” shifts that shaped his journey. It helps readers understand the data-driven world he was navigating long before genomics became the standard.
- $18.95 Milk, $1.6B in Cheese Plants: Why 2026 Forces Mid-Size Dairies to Scale, Go Premium, or Exit – Featuring Corey Geiger’s economic analysis, this piece carries forward the story’s themes into the next chapter of dairy farming. It examines where the industry’s philosophy is heading as producers navigate a complex future of components and capital.
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