Sunworks Farm gives lesson in marketing

What impresses me most about Ron Hamilton is how hard he works at marketing. Ron and his wife, Sheila, operate Sunworks Farm, an organic chicken, egg, turkey and beef operation at Armena, Alta., southeast of Edmonton. Sunworks Farms was a tour stop on day one of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation annual conference, which I attended.

Ron and Sheila were not farmers when they bought this acreage in 1992. Ron worked in the oil patch for 25 years as a surveyor and he was looking to settle down a little more — or at least not be away as much. The couple decided they should probably do something to make use of the space they had, so they bought some chickens. Around that same time, a friend encouraged them to take a holistic farming course. The project snowballed, and by 1997 they had an organic designation for a growing egg-laying operation. By leasing chicken and egg quota through special organic provisions from each supply-management board and by buying designated organic turkey quota, Ron and Sheila now have sizable flocks of chickens for meat (“broilers”), chicken for eggs (“layers”) and turkeys. And without hardly noticing, as Ron says, they also amassed an organic beef herd of 180 animals or so.

It was a beautiful September day when we visited, with bright sun and temperatures around 20°C. The birds were all outside in these free-range mini-barns, which Sunworks staff advance across the pasture a few feet per day. We visited the laying hens first. They use birds that lay brown eggs because, as Ron says, “people see brown eggs and farm eggs” and white eggs as supermarket eggs — even though there’s no difference on the inside. He says they hand pick and hand wash one million eggs per year. The turkeys and broiler chickens are on another pasture a short walk away in the same style of free-range barn. Birds are outside for about six months of the year. As long as the water stays thawed, the birds can stay out. In the winter, they’re moved inside — still with freedom to move around. 

Interesting sidebar: Ron has an electric mesh-style fence around the free-range barns. (See the bottom photo.) That’s to keep out skunks, foxes, coyotes and wolves. Before he put up the fence, he had bought two llamas with a guarantee that they’d keep away predators. Well, they kept away coyotes and wolves, but not foxes and skunks. When Ron told the llama-seller than the llamas weren’t working as promised, the guy gave Ron his money back but didn’t take the llamas. (They’re almost worthless these days.) So Ron has two llamas out in his pastures that stand there and do nothing but stare. He says the fence is effective and “predator friendly.” Sure, the wild dogs and skunks get a shock, but they get the message and move on without Ron having to shoot them.

I’m close to my point about marketing

Three key factors make organic poultry more expensive than conventional. First, you need organic feed — which is about double the price. Second, to comply with organic standard, birds need more space. So you have the same barns, more or less, but can only put half the birds inside. Plus Ron also has the free-range mini-barns out in the pasture, so he has two facilities. Third, marketing is not as simple as taking birds for slaughter, taking a cheque, and letting them go into mainstream supply chains. 

Ron and Sheila bust their asses marketing. They get $5 per dozen eggs, which is roughly double the conventional price, and $4.75 a pound for chicken meat, which isn’t much higher than the supermarket price. They sell to friends and around the neighbourhood, and they sell through some specialty shops, but most of their sales — 90 per cent — are through the year-round farmers’ markets in Calgary and Edmonton. Ron and Sheila go down to Calgary every Thursday with their five-ton refrigerated truck full of eggs and meat. Sheila stays and manages with Calgary booth, with eight or so young salespeople hired to help. Ron comes back to Armena the next day to get ready for Edmonton, which is a one-day market. He takes care of Edmonton, with six or so sales staff, then goes back to Calgary on Sunday to wrap up and bring everything back. He drives the truck 1,500 km per week, week in, week out. He’s hardly had a break since 1997. This is no rinky-dink operation.

Whatever impression you might have of organic farmers, it will change with a visit to Sunworks Farm. Yes, producing a quality product is the basis for the operation. Clearly this is important to Ron and Sheila. But they put just as much effort into selling their product and connecting with their customers. Ron’s goal is to connect with five new people every day at the markets. That’s 1,000 people a year. “And once we get them as customers, we’ll have them for life, and we’ll probably have their kids, too,” he says. 

Interesting sidebar: Almost all of their sales staff — the people who help them at the markets — are young women. “Women sell better than men,” Ron says. Their eggs and meat do sell themselves, to a point, but good staff really helps move product.