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There are 3,500 peeping, cheeping chicks in Ron and Sheila Hamilton’s sunny new chicken barn, the first of three flocks to be raised this summer.
The week-old chicks – they’ll be moving out of doors onto pasture in the next three weeks – are a big part of the Hamiltons’ certified organic operation near Hay Lakes, where a few feeder cattle, a quartet of curious pigs, a couple of llamas (there to discourage coyotes) and 300 hens are also part of the farmyard scenario.
After opting for a rural lifestyle and buying a half section of land in the early 1990s, the Hamiltons – she a former Leduc paralegal, he an oil patch surveyor – got into organics five years ago with 100 chickens. Last year, their Sunworks Farm raised 8,000 chicks, 250 turkeys, 150 ducks and 200 laying hens.
“We’re excited – we believe there’s a huge future in organic farming. The borders are unlimited,” says Ron, citing future plans to expand his cattle and hog operations.
The Hamiltons, who market most of their product through the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market and the Blackfoot Market in Calgary, aren’t alone in their optimism about the future of organic farming.
“It’s growing at the rate of about 38 percent per year in the number of growers in the province,” says Allan Graff of Vulcan, an organic producer since 1987, who grows organic grains and canola and raises cattle on 2,700 acres.
Mike Dolinski, organics specialist with Alberta Agriculture, estimates that there are now between 300 and 370 growers in the province, up from just over 200 last year.
Dolinski calls organics a “very lucrative niche” that’s attracting more and more attention, and the fact that prices for conventional agri-commodities continue to remain low is only one of the reasons for the interest.
“If you look at the development of the retail food market, conventional is growing two to four per cent a year. Organic is growing at 20 per cent,” says Dolinski.
He points out that, along with the smaller retail outlets such as Terra Natural Foods Market, Big Fresh and Debajis, major mainstream food retailers including Save-On and Safeway are opening in-store organics sections, recognizing that a hefty portion of that 20-per-cent growth represents the much sought-after, well-heeled shopper.
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Organics also represents a diversification opportunity, he says, “and if we don’t take advantage, others will, the Manitobas, Saskatchewans, the Dakotas, whatever.”
But one can’t become a certified organic farmer overnight. It generally takes three years before conventional farmers who’ve previously used chemicals and pesticides on their land can be certified by one of four bodies in the province.
Producers who apply must have a farm plan indicating crop rotations and keep records of every input they use, such as certified organic fertilizer, he says. “And then they’re inspected by a third party who reviews all records and looks at the fields.”
As well as conventional producers who switch over to organics, the sector also attracts those who embrace the philosophy of the organic movement, which includes environmental stewardship, animal welfare and rural development, says Dolinski.
The Hamiltons are a good example. They opted for organics after taking a course in holistic farming in 1995, where they set goals and visions about creating an environmentally-friendly lifestyle for the long term. Allergies in the family helped clinch the decision.
“This type of farm is intergenerational, especially with (selling to) the farmers’ markets, where our kids can already see an established clientele and that they can have a farm … and we could step back,” says Sheila.
“We don’t want to be millionaires, we just want to provide good food to those who want it and survive on the farm at the same time.”
NATURAL FACTS:
- Canada is among the top five world producers of organic grains and oilseeds, with an estimated retail value of $1 billion.
- Retail sales are expected to reach $3.1 billion in 2005.
- The industry expects its market share to reach 10 per cent of Canada’s retail food market by 2010.
- Active since the 1970s, Canada’s organic farming sector includes about 2,000 producers and about 150 processors and handlers.
- In 1999, farm cash receipts reached about $500 million, representing just 1.5 per cent of agriculture’s total farm cash receipts.
Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
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