September 11, 2013 - Beck Farm Tours
Rod & Shelley Bradshaw started Beck Farms in 1986. Now their sons Kurt and Brent have joined them in the farm operation as well. Twenty years ago in 1993 they started Innisfail Growers first as a joint venture and later as a co-op with four other farm couples. The members work together to jointly market their products. Each grower has different products so they aren't competing with each other.
Innisfail Farms - Beck Farms
Beck Farms has about 50 acres in vegetables with approximately 30 of them being carrots and the other 20 a combination of various cole crops such as beets, parsnips, dill and hot peppers. They also have about 1,200 acres in grains which helps with crop rotation and diversification.
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| Carrot crop being harvested |
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| Parsnips cole crop |
Harvesting of carrots from the field requires two people and the Becks use a toplifter. The majority of their equipment comes from Denmark with parts coming from dealer in Quebec or Wisconsin.
The harvested carrots are brought back to the plant for processing which requires 5 to 8 workers. They are washed, sorted and then packaged. Mud by product is pumped out to settling pit and has to be spread out and dried for two years before it can go back into field. The carrots have to be harvested before hard frost otherwise they will not last in long term storage.
Nantes and Emperor carrot varieties are used as they store well and have less breakage. Although the harvest only yields 60-70% all the way down to 55% once it gets colder with breakage due to weaker tops these varieties provide the best sugar content for the sweetest carrots. Quality is the important factor versus quantity. These varieties are ideal for Alberta where we normally have cooler nights in the fall. Leveling disc and power harrows are used in fall to prepare land for next year versus equipment like a rototiller which aerates it too much and dries it out which lowers germination.
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| Tops thrown back into field by harvester. |
The Becks are always looking to improve their operation and make it more efficient and cost effective. They recently purchased plastic storage carts which are costly at approximately $220 per cart but investment will pay for itself as they will last longer than old wooden carts and allows long term storage of carrots to be extended from April until June.
Beck Farms utilizes MEXSWAP employee program to obtain 5 foreign workers currently employed with them. They provide a lucrative bonus system and the same workers come back year after year. Two arrive in the spring and other three at harvest time. They have two residences on site and provide vehicle for their use.
They also have three full time local workers who produce their value added products of pickled carrots, pepper jelly and honey mustard dressing in their commercial kitchen. In the winter these workers switch to bagging carrots.
All packaging is marked to indicate it was 'Purchased from Innisfail Growers Booth'.
Innisfail Growers participates in twenty Farmer's Markets from Lacombe to Calgary. Calgary market is 4 days a week in winter and they send a reefer truck a day of product. The Red Deer market is every second week. 90% of the Beck Farm's product goes to the Farmer's Markets and the remaining product goes to local co-ops to satisfy local area customers as they do not provide retail sales directly at their farm.
The Becks also experiment with new crops and have peppers and some other products in their three cold frame greenhouses. These ventures do not always work out as illustrated by the infestation problem in their larger cold storage greenhouse due to a student worker not recognizing the problem and letting Shelley know early enough so she could act on it in time.
They utilize well or dug out water for gravity driven irrigation system.
Beck Farms is an excellent example of a successful horticulture operation.
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