FEBRUARY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Keeping it sustainable For Springford Farm, diversification works
Stories by TOM WALKER
NANAIMO – When Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist Dr. Mehdi Sharifi speaks about sustainable farm practices, I think of Springford Farm in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island as an example of what he is describing.
Sharifi talks about the important interconnection of economic viability,
environmental practices and social interactions of a farm in considering the sustainability of that farm’s practice. Colin and Diane Springford, together with son Ross and family, run a sustainable farm. Indeed, it has sustained their family for five generations and is likely to continue to do so for the future. Springford Farm sits in a growing niche between backyard and commercial scale agriculture. Their variety of products, farmed in a way that supports the environment and are direct-marketed through their on-farm store, serves a ready client base in mid-Vancouver Island.
“It evolved out of BSE” says Colin, referring to the discovery of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy in an Alberta cow in 2003. “We had these cows that were worth next to nothing and we had always sold the occasional side of beef.” “We took a look around and there were enough people but there weren’t a lot of
farms,” adds son Ross. “So, we got some beef together and put a sign out front and people started coming.” A self-serve system evolved into a permanent store that opened in 2014.
“We calve about 25 in the spring and another 20 in the fall which allows us to have meat all year,” Ross explains. “The mild climate and longer grass season on the island helps that.”
The Springfords rotational graze about an acre a day of grass and supplement that with their own hay, actively farming about 130 of their 225 acres.
“We got some chickens to have something fresh for people to shop for because the beef is always frozen,” says Ross. “Fifty chickens grew into 300 and now we have 5,300 laying hens.”
They ship eggs to a
wholesaler but also sell some direct to smaller stores and at the farmers market.
“Our egg cartons are like a paid advertisement with our name and Facebook address,” says Ross. “We have over 1,500 likes on Facebook. It’s a tool to encourage customers.” A 1970s vintage egg grader that handles 360 dozen eggs per hour sits in a processing room at the back of the store building.
“The wholesaler we sell to, their plant will do 50,000 dozen in a shift,” says Ross. “So we are totally in a different perspective.”
Free range and responsible
NANAIMO – The Springford family chose to build a free range barn for their 5,300 laying hens, making them one of two commercial farms on Vancouver Island that is exclusively free range. “When I was working for John Deere, I had a customer who had a similar operation, and I thought it was something we could replicate,” says Ross
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Beef at
Springford, from his family farm at Nanoose Bay. “All the commercial
experience I had with laying hens before that had been in cages,” explains Ross. “I didn’t think it was something that my generation was going to follow through with and want to consume.”
Ross says there are other See FREE on next page o
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Their grader allows them to handle over- or under-size eggs that would be
discounted at the wholesaler, and sell them direct for a premium.
“It was more work than we thought but it allows us to add value to our product and build a bit more margin,” says Ross. “This kind of process has been squeezed out.”
Ross calls it "decentralized agriculture."
The average egg farm in the US is 1.2 million hens, while the average in BC is 22,000, according to Ross. “But there are only two or three significant grading stations that take most of the eggs,” Ross explains. “There are only a couple of farms that do what we do.”
Everything in the store is from Vancouver Island, Ross points out.
“My dad grows a huge garden and we have corn and squash and other vegetables to market through the store and we outsource other products,” he says. “Pork, lamb, grains for the granola, yogurt, honey and cheese – anything we can get our hands on. We even take plums from our neighbors so the raccoons don’t get them.”
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Three generations of Springfords (Colin, Parker, Ross and Landon) in front of the silo attached to their farm store. "We wanted a traditional prairie hip-style barn for the store and, of course, it needed a silo," says Colin Springford. TOM WALKER PHOTO
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