Sunworks Farm Armena, Alberta

SPCA Certified since 2005.  Currently Certified products include pork, beef, chicken, eggs and turkey.

SPCA Certified is an innovative farm certification and food-labelling program dedicated to improving farm animal welfare standards in Canada.

About Sunworks Farm

Sunworks Farm is located near Armena, Alberta and is the home of Ron and Sheila Hamilton and their family. Since moving to the land in 1992, the Hamiltons have maintained a commitment to third-party certification as well as to the organic, holistic and humane movements. They have been Certified Organic since 1997 and became SPCA Certified in 2005.  The Hamiltons have also helped spread the word about the importance of farm animal welfare by recruiting other farms into the SPCA Certified program.

Over the years, Sunworks Farm's customers have come to know the Hamiltons well, and the demand for their products continues to grow. The Hamiltons have worked hard to satisfy that demand without compromising the standards of care for their animals.  For example, these farmers used innovative thinking to build portable field shelters for the broiler (meat) chickens, which are moved each day onto fresh pasture. The system allows the Hamiltons to raise thousands of chickens each year in relatively small, manageable flock sizes.

A similar management system is provided to their flock of egg-laying hens that are raised in 5 distinct portable layer barns, each with communal nest boxes and perches. Both the broiler chickens and laying hens are given access to the outdoors from June to mid-October, when Alberta temperatures are warm enough.  In the winter, the birds are housed in barns with windows that open to let fresh air and sunshine inside.

The Hamiltons' herd of beef cattle is pastured year-round using a time-controlled grazing system. In the colder winter months, the herd is moved to areas with natural windbreaks, and straw bedding is provided to the animals for added warmth and comfort. The Hamiltons do not brand their cattle and they transport the cattle over short distances to maintain control over this critical stage of the animals' lives.

The Hamiltons purchase some feeder animals from Nature's Way Farm, Eggers Farm and Campbellton Farm, each of which are also SPCA Certified, to be finished and sold under the Sunworks brand.  Sunworks Farm distributes Prairie Roots Organic chicken, also certified to SPCA Certified standards.  See below for a list of retailers. 

Where to Buy Sunworks Farm products

• Calgary's Farmers Market at the Currie Barracks (Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays: year-round)

• Edmonton's Old Strathcona Farmers Market (Saturday 8am to 3pm: year-round)

• St. Albert Farmers' Market (Saturdays from June 19th, 2010)

• Blush Lane Organic Market in Calgary, AB

• Northlands Farmers Market (Alberta)

• Southwest Edmonton Farmers Market (Edmonton, AB)

• Calgary Farmers Market (Calgary, AB)

• St. Albert Farmers Market (St. Albert, AB)

• Wild Flower Cafe (Banff, AB)

• Community Natural Foods (Alberta)

• Planet Organic

• Amaranth Whole Foods (Alberta)

• Market 17 (Alberta)

• Sunnyside Natural Foods (Alberta)

• Okotooks Natural Foods (Alberta)  

Please visit the Retailer's page for more information on where Sunworks products, including Prairie Roots Organic chicken, are sold.

Contact Information (if available):