Lochmead Farms in Oregon: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Lochmead Farms is a Gibson family dairy and farm near Junction City in Oregon's Willamette Valley that processes and sells its own milk. Perishable News describes an independent, local operation that integrated farming, bottling and retailing, and Oregon State University lists it among its partners.
| Location | Near Junction City, Lane County, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1940s, as a 160-acre farm run by Howard Gibson (Perishable News) |
| Sectors | Dairy; milk and ice cream; hazelnuts; blueberries; grass seed; grains |
| Scale | Company publishes no current herd or acreage figures in the sources found |
| Why it is elite | Farm-to-store integration with Lochmead Dairy and Dari Mart; OSU partner |
| Ownership | Gibson family |
| Official website | Dari Mart: Lochmead Farms and Dairy page |
History of Lochmead Farms
Perishable News reports the operation began in the 1940s as a 160-acre farm near Junction City run by Howard Gibson. Dari Mart's company history says Howard and Gladys Gibson moved down from Washington, expanded the farm, added a dairy and began selling dairy products directly to consumers.
Five Dari Mart stores opened in 1965 alongside the Lochmead Dairy bottling plant, according to Perishable News. Jock, Buzz and Mike Gibson run separate parts of the business, from bottling and retail to the dairy and feed crops.
What Lochmead Farms Grows and Raises
Dari Mart's Lochmead page lists corn silage, wheat, fescue, rye grass, hazelnuts, blueberries and clover among crops, alongside milk and ice cream made at the Lochmead Dairy plant. The page also covers Angus cattle, breeding science and real-time cow data.
Feed is grown on the farm by one family branch, the dairy is managed by another and the plant and stores by a third, which keeps each step under family control.
How Lochmead Farms Makes Money
Packaged milk and ice cream
Lochmead Dairy bottles and sells dairy products, which gives the family the processor and retailer margin.
Convenience retail
Dari Mart stores sell the dairy products directly to consumers.
Specialty and grass seed crops
Hazelnuts, blueberries, fescue and rye grass diversify beyond milk.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Lochmead Farms
Vertical integration captures margin. Owning the farm, plant and stores lets one family set quality and price end to end.
Stay independent through relationships. Local branding and retail presence give an independent dairy shelf space that commodity milk cannot.
A dairy that owns its cows, its bottles and the stores where you buy a cone has turned the supply chain into a family reunion, with Junction City as the lunch table. If you like farm satire with a scoop, farm.FM has farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes that pair well with a Lochmead milkshake.
For context, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site and the home of Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers. Its contributors each keep an archive, and this one is a good sampler of ranch humor and farm jokes.
How to Contact Lochmead Farms
Website: https://www.darimart.com/lochmead-farms/
Address, phone and email were not verified in our research, November 2026. Use the Dari Mart and Lochmead web pages for current contact details.
Lochmead Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Lochmead Farms and Dairy - Family-published farm page
- Perishable News - Independent dairy profile
- OSU Lochmead partner page - University partnership
- Oregon Department of Agriculture statistics - State commodity data
- 2022 Oregon Census summary - State farm statistics
Lochmead Farms FAQ
Where is Lochmead Farms?
Near Junction City in Lane County, Oregon.
Who owns Lochmead Farms?
The Gibson family.
What does it make?
Milk and ice cream, per Dari Mart.
What else does it grow?
Hazelnuts, blueberries, grass seed, wheat and clover.
Lochmead Farms shows how a Willamette Valley dairy can own the full chain. Read the Oregon farms guide for the wider picture of climate, water, markets and programs that shape operations like this one.