Our History

A Timeline of the Northwest Dairy Association and Darigold

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1918
The United Dairymen's Association of Washington formed.
1920
Consolidated Dairy Products Company is formed as a milk broker and marketer.
1925
The name "Darigold" emerges as a trade name for the products brokered under the United Dairymen's and Consolidated Dairy Products.
1932
The United States patent office issues a trademark for the name "Darigold."
1941
United Dairymen’s Association has grown to over 40 cooperatives across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota.
1950
The Washington Milk Producer’s association, with over 600 producers, joins the United Dairymen’s Association.
1951
From 1951-1956, a concentrated milk product is developed, excellent for faraway markets like Alaska or Asia and aboard ships at sea.
1960
From 1960-1965, the company’s milk is being delivered directly to supermarkets in a new package called the milk carton.
1974
Darigold producers hit the "Big B," producing 1,054,000,000 pounds of raw milk.
1981
Mayflower Farms, the largest dairy-farmer cooperative in Oregon, merges with NDA (formerly United Dairymen's Association), growing the company by one-third and bringing the number of producers to 1,475.
1992
Darigold is shipping almost 95 million pounds of powdered milk to more than a dozen foreign countries. The company is responsible for almost 50 percent of U.S. dairy exports.
1998
Darigold produces longer-lasting ultra-pasteurized (UP) milk products in Boise, ID. The company changes its name to WestFarm Foods in 1999, but reverts back to Darigold in 2006.
1999
The second phase of the expansion of the cheese plant in Sunnyside, WA is completed. It now processes 4.1 MM lbs of milk into 400K lbs of cheese every day.
2003
Darigold installs a new butter churn at Issaquah, WA, one of the largest vacuum-style churns ever to be imported into the United States.
2006
Darigold commits to producing and selling only milk from cows not treated with rBST.
2007
Darigold is hailed “Exporter of the Year” by Dairy Field magazine.
2015
Darigold re-enters retail cheese business with a premium cheddar cheese.
2016
The company invests over $97 million on further expansion of the Sunnyside, WA, plant to increase milk processing capability of nearby NDA farms’ milk.
2017
As efficiencies have grown, just shy of 500 farmers produce over 8.4 billion pounds of milk annually.
2018
Darigold celebrates its 100th Anniversary.