Traditionally, farmers in Nepean made a living by growing wheat and harvesting timber. These crops were eventually traded in for dairy and livestock farming as Nepean’s population grew and demands changed. The year 1870 proved to be a devastating one for Nepean’s farmers as a series of fires blazed throughout Nepean, burning crops, barns, timber and topsoil. Many were forced to rebuild their farms from scratch (Elliott 141-2).

Around the 1880’s and 1890’s, farming in Nepean changed. The prairies were beginning to produce most of the country’s grain and demands for milk, cheese and meat in nearby Bytown led Nepean farmers to switch to dairy and livestock farming. The development of the dairy industry in Nepean and Ottawa led to the formation of the Ottawa Cheese Board in 1898 and the Ottawa Dairy Company in 1900 (Elliott 141).

Six cheese factories were operating in Nepean before the year 1900. Eager’s Cheese Factory at Twin Elm opened in 1887 and was “the first successful cheese factory in Nepean”(Elliott 148). Despite the success of cheese factories, milk production proved to be the most profitable trade and consequently, many farmers closed their cheese factories in favour of milk production. The most prosperous farms were those located near Ottawa, and in particular, in the Merivale area. The Clarks, Nesbitts, Baynes, Honeywells, McFarlands, Bells and Caldwells were just some of the families that operated dairy farms in Nepean (Elliott 150).