Farming for the love of it

Pamela Irving
   
 
 
 
Ron and Sheila Hamilton are passionate about farming, food and family. Their certified organic farm supplies poultry, pork, lamb, eggs and beef to the Strathcona and Calgary Farmer’s Markets and Big Fresh and Planet Organic retail stores in Edmonton.

The Hamiltons raise 55,000 chickens, 1,000 layers, 300 turkeys and 40 head of beef on their quarter-section Sunworks farm near Camrose, about 70 Kilometers southeast of Edmonton.

All their meat products — whole birds, sausages, roasts, ribs, wings, chops, special cuts and steaks — are vacuum-packed and sold fresh. The hens produce 550 dozen eggs a week that sell out early every weekend.

Sunworks is a family affair, with two generations involved in some aspect of the family business. Their daughters and spouses, Shae and Adam Belanger, and Erin and Matt Paulson, help with the marketing. Sheila’s sister, Dorothy Marshall of nearby Campbellton Farms, raises 400 pigs and 520 lambs, which the Hamilton’s market.

At farmers markets every weekend, Sunworks customers gobble up the family’s passion for their products along with food samples, cooking and handling tips.

“When you are doing something you love, people know it,” Ron says.

The Hamiltons left Leduc 14 years ago to buy the land near Camrose and build their home. Ron Hamilton continued working as an oilfield surveyor and leased out the quarter section. Though Ron always had a dream to farm, the Hamiltons started organic farming primarily for health reasons.

Sheila had been bedridden for four years with fibromyalgia, an inflammation of connective tissue. She saw a naturopath who treated her with organic food as her medicine. In less than six weeks Sheila recovered fully, Ron says. “Anyone who has met Sheila cannot believe she was ever so ill. She is so full of energy. We converted to organic food and farming and decided to put the land into production,” he explains.
      Certified organic since 1997, Sunworks farm started with 80 chickens. By 2001, the operation was doing so well, Ron was able to stop working as a surveyor and devote himself full time to farming and marketing. Today, the demand is so great for Sunworks products, the Hamiltons are planning to build a commercial feed mill.

The entire field operation uses a single 27-horsepower tractor, which is used to move outdoor mobile units housing the chickens. The chickens provide manure for the land while they eat the grass. Chickens also get organic feed supplements. All Sunworks animals are raised and grazed outdoors, weather permitting.

“When our 2,000 customers buy our food, they buy our ethics package,” Hamilton explains. “Our customers want to know that the food is certified organic, the animals are humanely treated and that the food is produced on an environmentally sustainable family farm, here in Alberta.”

The Hamiltons have two main marketing strategies: sell direct and build intergenerational relationships that will take the buying and eating habits into the next generation.

“Pregnant women and women with children are concerned about additives in their food,” says Hamilton.

Robyn Fowler, an English instructor at the University of Alberta, has been buying meat from Sunworks for three years and has several reasons for going organic with the Hamiltons.

“I agree with their ethical raising and slaughter of the animals. They use organic feed with no animal byproducts and no antibiotics. Sunworks meat tastes so good, I do not worry about the slightly higher price.”

Her family of four eats meat twice a week, making organic meat cost effective for her family budget. 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. Our favorite is the lamb. We grill it on the barbeque all year-round,” says Fowler.

Hamilton is 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. We need more people farming the land. We need more organic farmers.”