Organic Poultry Success with Creative Direct Marketing

Acres USA July 2006
  Organic Poultry Success with Creative Direct Marketing By Pamela Irving 
 
The Hamiltons.

  
 

Ron and Sheila Hamilton of Sunworks Farm near Camrose in Alberta, Canada, are passionate about farming, food and family. Sunworks QMI certified organic farm supplies poultry, lamb, eggs and beef to urban farmers’ markets in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta. Only about four percent of their products go to retail outlets Big Fresh and Planet Organic in Edmonton.

Sunworks Farm is truly a family affair, including not just one generation, but two. The Hamiltons’ daughters and their spouses — Shae and Adam Belanger and Erin and Matt Paulson—along with Sheila’s sister, Dorothy Marshall of nearby Campbellton Farms, are all involved some aspect of the family business.

Hamiltons, Sheila’s sister Dorothy Marshall, and daughter Shae and husband, who bought certified land near Holden. The entire operation raises 55,000 chickens, 300 turkeys, 400 pigs, 520 lambs and 40 head of beef.

Sunworks markets 1,000 eggs per week from 4,000 laying hens. All of their meat products — sausages, roasts, ribs, wings, chops, special cuts and steaks — are vacuum packed and sold fresh or frozen. The meat is processed in Alberta by certified organic Messinger Meats in Mirror, and Lakeland Poultry in St. Paul.

Every Saturday, Ron Hamilton, Shae and Adam Belanger are seen tirelessly talking to customers at Edmonton’s Strathcona Farmer’s Market, while Sheila Hamilton and Erin and Matt Paulson manage the stall at the Calgary Farmers’ Market at Currie Barracks.

When Ron Hamilton left his work as an oilfield surveyor in Leduc 14 years ago, he had a dream to live in the country and eventually farm. The bought the land primarily to build their house on and leased the half-section to farmers.

At that time, Sheila had been bedridden with fibromyalgia for four years. She saw a naturopath who treated her ailment with organic food rather than pharmaceuticals. In less than six weeks Sheila fully recovered. “Anyone who has met Sheila cannot believe she was ever so ill. She is so full of energy,” Ron Hamilton explains. “We were converted to organic food and farming and decided to put the land into production.” The farm has been certified organic since 1997.

Sheila’s sister, Dorothy Marshall, started them with 80 chickens. Today the demand for Sunworks products is so great that the Hamiltons are planning to build a commercial feed mill and processing plant.

The Hamiltons have only one 27-horsepower tractor to run the entire operation. Chickens are kept in outdoor mobile units that are moved with the tractor. The chickens provide manure for the land, graze on grass, and are given organic feed supplements. All of the animals are raised and grazed outdoors, weather permitting. Chickens are now raised indoors during winter months to provide full-year supply. Layers have 2 square feet per bird.

“When our 2,000 customers buy our food, they buy our ethics package. Our customers want to know that the food is certified organic, the animals are humanely raised and treated, and that the food is produced on an environmentally sustainable family farm, right here in Alberta,” Hamilton says.
     
One customer, Robyn Fowler, an English instructor at the University of Alberta, has been buying meat for her family from the Hamiltons for three years. She cites two reasons for going organic with Sunworks meats.

“I agree with their ethical raising and slaughter of the animals, and they use organic feed with no animal remnants and no antibiotics. Sunworks’ meat tastes so good, I do not worry about the price being slightly higher,” Fowler explains. She says that her family of four only eats meat twice a week, and for them, this makes buying organic meat cost effective. It also means that at least twice a week, her family sits down for a “proper meal” of vegetables and meat. “I am a passionate cook. We grill on the barbeque all year round,” says Fowler.

The Hamiltons have two main marketing strategies — sell direct and build relationships, intergenerational relationships that will take buying and eating habits into the next generation. “Pregnant women and women with children are more concerned about additives in their food. People with cancer and other illnesses see food as their medicine.”

According to a study by Rosalie Cunningham of Alberta Agriculture, more Canadians are choosing certified organic food because they believe that organic food is safer and healthier. Guidelines specific to poultry rearing ensure that the birds are treated and transported humanely and fed certified organic feed. Turkey’s must be able to stretch their limbs and have access to fresh air. More space means less opportunity for disease to spread. In organic poultry production, practices such as overcrowding, de-beaking and de-clawing on a regular basis are prohibited.

Ron Hamilton says that customers come to them not only for health reasons, but also because their turkey tastes better. He says that organic turkeys are better value per pound because there is no added water. Sunworks sells 1.400 certified organic turkeys during the winter season. They prefer customers to book their birds in advance if possible. In keeping with the demand for smaller birds, Hamilton says that their turkeys average about 15-16 pounds. Their lamb and pork are also in great demand.

The lambs and pigs are summered and wintered outdoors, with straw for bedding and hay and grain for feed. The Hamiltons have certification through the Winnipeg Humane Society. “Fresh air, green grass as the season permits, space, this is what humane means to us,” says Sheila Hamilton. Pigs are supplemented with barley and soy, and lambs with barley and wheat.

The Hamiltons are confident about the future of organics. “If you are keeping the next generation on the farm and generating a positive income, you are improving rural life and agriculture in Alberta.” Hamilton says. “We need more young people on farms, more young people farming.”

The Hamiltons have been nominated by Edmonton’s convivial (chapter) of Slow Food to attend Terra Madre in Turin in October 2006. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend and network about sustainable practices, markets and research. Hamilton says that local organic food is connected to global movements like Slow Food. “The Slow Food movement has its roots in quality food and taking people back to the roots of agriculture, back to the farm and back to the dinner table.”