Hamilton's Climate Action Strategy - Good News Stories

The Loewith family’s dairy farm in Copetown is producing more than milk - it’s building a model for sustainable farming in Hamilton. 

With an 80-year legacy in local dairy, the family launched Summit Station Dairy & Creamery in 2023, adding on-farm milk processing and a storefront.

Today, they strengthen hyper-local food production with value-added products like flavoured milks, table cream, fresh cheese curds, and yogurt, doing so with sustainable agricultural practices and innovative technologies.

“We are deeply committed to environmental stewardship,” said General Manager Jennifer Howe, wife of co-owner Ben Loewith.

Commitment to Environmental Stewardship

That commitment shows in every part of the operation: breeding cows and growing feed that help reduce methane, making extensive use of cover crops over winter to minimize soil erosion, and recycling farm waste into manure used as the primary fertilizer used to grow the feed crops, replenishing not only the nutrients to the land, but adding organic matter back to the soil.

The farm reuses car tires to hold down plastic covering for feed fermentation, composts storefront utensils, and minimizes food waste by producing only what they know will sell. “The goal is no food crates in the fridge when we close on Sundays,” Howe said.

Sustainability is also built into the farm’s design. The storefront, styled after the historic Summit Train Station, was constructed with local materials and landscaped with native, drought-resistant plants.

A solar field now generates 80% of the farm’s power required for its operations, supporting their goal of becoming carbon-free by 2050.

The dairy strengthens the rural economy with direct sales, home delivery service within a 30-minute drive radius of the farm (return of the ‘milkman’) designed to cut fuel use, and upcoming route optimization software to further reduce emissions, benefiting the climate while positively changing rural-urban dynamics. Their mission statement balances sustainability with animal welfare, community support, staff well-being, and profitability.

Summit Dairy Farm has also become a lively community hub, offering farm tours, cooking classes, and summer music nights. In 2024, they received a Sustainable Tourism Award for connecting people to local food and sustainable farming.

By the Numbers
450: Holstein cows being milked
20,000: litres of milk produced a day
15: Full Time Employees and 43: Part Time
6: Beehives produce honey on sale at the store
73: Guided farm tours (including school tours) in 2024
5000+: Number of visitors in 2024
80,000+: Glass bottles return rate in 2024
400: Acres of corn silage grown and
450: Acres of alfalfa and rye grass grown
13%: Methane emissions reduction based on plant-based feed additive and a further 1.5% based on genetic selection (but genetic selection has a cumulative effect over multiple generations)