LaVar Newman
Monteview, Idaho
Born into a farming family, LaVar Newman started his own ag business, on rented ground, when he was only a sophomore in high school. He went on to operate a small diary in the Milo area and rented additional ground in the Mud Lake area to produce alfalfa for his dairy herd.
Eventually, Newman decided to pursue securing additional acres through the Desert Land Act to obtain and prove up 160 acres in the Monteview area outside of Mud Lake. This was the beginning of what would evolved into a large family operation that Newman built from the ground up. Over a lifetime of hard work, his farm turned into an 8,000-plus acre operation growing and selling alfalfa, wheat barley, and cattle. Of those acres, some 1,500 acres was ground Newman had to clear of sagebrush with a beater, level out for farming, drill wells and install power.
Through the years, he has raised seed potatoes, commercial potatoes, seed peas, pigs, sheep, dairy cattle, wheat, malt barley, and alfalfa.
Newman was one of the first in the Monteview area to bale with an accumulator and stack with a tractor. He was also one of the first to install irrigation circles in Monteview and run water wheel lines, having drilled his first well in 1960. He was also one of the first hay growers to buy his own semis and trailers to deliver his own hay to customers.
He has served as a member and director of the local Federal Land Bank committee, receiving an award from Idaho Ag Credit for having received an ag loan for 60 consecutive years. His service on the FLB extended to regional and national leadership positions. He has also served on the Reno Ditch Canal Company for almost 30 years.
Newman, and his wife Louise, are the parents of five children.