Canada’s oldest organic dairy co-op turns 25

Guelph, Ont. – Organic Meadow is celebrating 25 years of building the organic dairy sector in Canada.

The farmer-owned business is Canada’s oldest organic dairy co-operative and is a leading organic dairy brand. Its farms supply 80 per cent of all organic milk in Ontario, or 20 million litres of milk annually.

The company began in 1989 with just six farmers and a vision “of building a sustainable system to make wholesome food accessible to Canadians,” according to the company. The vision was also that “the system would be different than others before – it would start at the farm gate.”

Organic Meadow now represents more than100 family farms, and offers over 90 organic products including milk, cream, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs and ice cream.

“For 25 years we’ve done things the right way,” says CEO Don Rees. “It started with building the raw milk supply, then creating an iconic brand and finally taking the leap into manufacturing by building our own plant.”

The co-op has a 22,000-sq.-ft. dairy processing facility in Guelph, the first organic dairy plant in Eastern Canada when it was built in 2009.

Organic Meadow will be celebrating its anniversary with a year of activities, including the unveiling of a farmer-designed 25th Anniversary logo. As well as offering several limited-edition dairy products, the company will publish a commemorative book of stories about Organic Meadow in August.