Victor farm owners to get lifetime achievement award

It was already 75 degrees at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning as the couple busily worked to complete the morning tasks at their Victor farm before the onset of sweltering heat the afternoon would bring.

After 40 years of organic farming and mentoring young people to become the next generation of organic agriculture, Elliot and Brieger of Lifeline Produce in Victor have been named as the 2024 recipients of the Missoula Conservation Roundtable Lifetime Achievement Award. Brieger said she was very honored and humbled to receive the award.

“It’s not the Nobel Prize, but for me it might as well be,” Brieger said as she harvested basil in one of the farm’s greenhouses. “It’s a pretty big deal to me, for our peers to recognize us and select us for this honor. It’s something to be proud of. Although, you know, we’re just doing what we do. I didn’t know that you get an award just for living your life, but I’ll take it.”

Every year the Missoula Conservation Roundtable recognizes local individuals for their achievements. The awards offer “encouragement and inspiration to others who carry on the process of recognizing, preserving and protecting our priceless natural resource heritage,” according to the group’s website. Elliot and Brieger were nominated for the award by University of Montana Environmental Studies Professor Neva Hassanein, Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick, and University of Montana Environmental Studies Professors Emeritus Tom Roy and Vicki Watson.

In a written statement regarding the award, the roundtable praised Elliot and Brieger for their use of biodynamic regenerative farming techniques, their mentorship of young people and for building “a foundation for our local food movement,” calling them pioneers of commercial-scale organic vegetable farming in Montana.