Dairy Industry 1827-1900
The first recorded dairy farm in British Columbia was the Hudson’s Bay Farm near the present town of Fort Langley.
In the 1820’s the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)needed to end the company posts’ reliance on expensive imported goods to compensate for the waning of the fur trade.
HBC Governor George Simpson directed that“living was to become much plainer and the posts made more self-sufficient”.
Fort Langley was established in 1827 and immediately land clearing for agriculture began. The first cattle arrived in 1829. The main farming operation was moved from the Fort to two thousand acres of land on Langley Prairie, between the Salmon and Nicomekl rivers.
