For the first time in nearly a decade, Eberhard’s Dairy Products is launching a new product line under the name the dairy first used nearly 70 years ago, Eberhard’s Organic Creamery.

The organic milk product, containing milk from cows raised on an organic farm in Madras, first began rolling out onto grocery shelves on Friday.

“This is big for us to add to our existing product line,” said Mark Eberhard, company CEO. “There was only one farm we wanted to partner with so we could truly do a local organic product using their milk. It’s a family farm to a family processor.”

The milk comes from Jos L. Poland’s 300-acre farm in Madras and is the only certified organic dairy in Central Oregon, said Jos Poland, who has owned the dairy with his wife for 15 years.

Eberhard said customers had been clamoring for organic milk. While organic milk only makes up a small percentage of the sales in the milk category in the United States, it is a growing segment of the market as consumers express their concern about the growth hormones used in dairy cows.

To be organic, the processing plant must be certified by the USDA, and the farm has to meet federal milk processing standards.

Organic milk makes up about 5 percent of the milk category in the United States, according to USDA data.

“Organic milk is pricier but growing in popularity while the performance of the milk category as a whole has been lackluster,” said Gary Hemphill, managing director of research at the Beverage Marketing Corporation in New York City.

Last year 301 million gallons of organic milk were produced, 0.8 percent more than in 2016, according to data provided by Beverage Marketing Corporation.

Eberhard’s organic milk will cost consumers about $1 more per unit, Eberhard said. At first the company will sell organic milk in 2 percent, nonfat and whole milk. Later it will add chocolate milk, organic half and half and whipping cream, if there is demand, he said.

“We’re pretty excited to say that all the organic milk comes from one dairy farm and it will be a consistent dairy product,” Eberhard said. “It’s important to our customer that they know where their food comes from. More and more people want to know where their food comes from.”

The last big change in an Eberhard’s product was in 2009 when it changed the shape of the ice cream container. Before that, in 2007, the company added the Moo Bell to its labels, he said.

“We don’t do a lot of different things, but when we do, it’s kind of a big deal,” Eberhard said.

Eberhard’s began as a Redmond creamery where customers took their cream to churn into butter. The company was founded in 1951 by Nelda and Jack Eberhard. Today it processes milk products, butter, cottage cheese, sour cream and ice cream at the Redmond plant. Milk is brought to the plant for processing and packaging from dairies in Tumalo, Redmond and the Willamette Valley, he said. It goes to stores six days a week in Eberhard trucks, he said.

The company would not release the quantities of milk and other products it produces.

The processing facility is the only Grade A dairy processing plant in Central Oregon. Every dairy farm that supplies Eberhard’s agrees not to use growth hormones to make cows produce more milk, but that does not meet organic standards, according to the company. To be considered organic, the cows must have access to fresh pastures and not be treated with synthetic hormones or antibiotics.

“The advantage of organic milk is that we start with soil that is healthy and have all the microbes working together to get a quality crop of hay to feed the cows,” Poland said. “Then you get healthy cows. We feed our cows for their health, not high production.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2117, sroig@bendbulletin.com