Auburn family-owned dairy farm partners with local food banks
Published 1:23 pm Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Hy-Grass Farms, a family-owned dairy farm in Auburn on the Enumclaw/Auburn Plateau, has partnered with local food banks in Auburn, Kent and Federal Way to provide fresh milk.
Gwerder Brothers, the brand that Hy-Grass Farms operates through, have started providing healthy, fresh milk to the Multi-Service Center’s (MSC) Redondo Heights Food Bank Market in Federal Way, 27614 Pacific Highway S., according to a June 11 press release from MSC.
The farm also has partnered with The Auburn Food Bank, 2804 Auburn Way N., and the Kent Food Bank, 515 W. Harrison St.
Through the Washington state legislative initiative of Farm to Food Pantry (F2FP), food banks receive some funding to purchase produce and other products from local farms. This way, not only do residents benefit from this partnership, but the Gwerder Brothers do as well.
“The relationship we are building with Hy-Grass Farms and Gwerder Brothers is exactly what was intended by the grant and it’s truly mutually beneficial,’’ said MSC’s Food Bank Director Steven Curry.
Curry connected the Gwerder Brothers with other local food banks and the South King County Food Coalition, a network of food banks and hunger resources in South King County. Gwerder Brothers is now providing milk to several food banks throughout South King County and into South Seattle, with additional partnerships in the works.
Jason Gwerder, co-owner of Gwerder Brothers, explained the significance of this partnership.
“Our family has been farming in this area, as my grandfather liked to say, since I-5 was a dirt road,” he said.
His brother, co-owner Mark Gwerder, shared his family’s love for the farm.
“It’s a rewarding way of life,” Mark Gwerder said. “I get to work with my kids and my family.”
Dick Gwerder, the father of Jason and Mark, learned farming from his father, the grandfather of the sons. He came to the United States from Switzerland for a job milking cows on a farm in Tukwila. Dick Gwerder’s grandmother also came from a Swiss dairy background, and her family operated a dairy farm in the Kent Valley as early as 1911. After a few years working for others, Dick’s father was able to rent his first farm, and then other farms, building his farming business until he owned his own farm.
The brothers have one of only about six dairies left in South King County, according to the press release. All of the milk produced by the Gwerder Brothers is fresh, unprocessed and unhomogenized.
“Our customers at the food bank love the milk and we love being able to support local farmers,” Curry said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional food banks.
