Your Local Dairy
History
Blackwell Dairy Farm
Blackwell Dairy began in the year 1913. Milton Blackwell moved from Vancouver and bought a farm east of Kamloops, in Barnhartvale.
The farm produced fresh milk and Milton sold all his farm products in Kamloops at the farmers market and through home delivery.
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In 1928 the farm headquarters moved to its present location and built a new dairy barn. Son's Arthur and Everett slept in the loft of the new barn that winter and milked the dairy cows. In 1947 Arthur took over the farm from his father, Milton. In 1952 Milton passed away and Arthur sold many of the dairy cows and pursued the sheep business. In 1966 Arthur partnered with his son Ted and began the building of the dairy farm once again.
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The milk produced was shipped to Noca Dairy located in Vernon. In 1983 they built their own processing plant. The processing plant was incorporated in 1986 and thus Blackwell Dairy Farm Inc. was formed.
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Blackwell Dairy has provided a working environment second to none for many family members as well as others over a long period of time. Ted and Arthur remained partners until Arthur's passing in 2004.
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After a fire destroyed the beautiful processing facility in 2017, Blackwell Dairy Farm will continue the tradition of excellence with the construction of a new processing facility on the same footprint as the old plant.
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Major Events Over The Years
2017 Fire
On the evening of June 14th, 2017, a fire broke out in our processing plant. The plant was rebuild and continues to provide Kamloops and the surrounding communities with a variety of dairy products... Read more about the event
2018 Forest Fires
British Columbia in 2018 experienced it's worst fire season to date. Including 2,115 fires and 1.35 million hectares that burned. Although the fires didn't affect the farms day to day operations; health and safety was of concern as the farm was on evacuation alert on three separate occasions.
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2020 COVID-19
COVID-19 affected millions of people across the world. For producers day to day operations around the farm still needed to be completed, however, the process looked a little different than how it was before. Blackwell Dairy Farm continued to supply Kamloops and the surrounding communities with quality dairy products during this time.
2021 Floods
In November of 2021 torrential rains flooded rivers and farmland throughout southern British Columbia, resulting in mudslides and washouts that obstructed over 130-kilometre stretch between Hope and Merritt. There was difficulty for dairy producers to deliver their products to the consumer. At this time Blackwell Dairy Farm was the only producer suppling products... Read more on the topic
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