BioRegionNEWS6

The people at Sunworks Farm raise pork and chickens on pasture. Their meat makes the best pork and chicken sausages. We found them at the Blush Lane organic market, far on the West side of Calgary. All facts and images are taken from their web site.

These are long time certified organic operators and here is an example of their dedication to biological principles:

All our chickens and turkeys are certified organic and BCSPCA certified humanely raised. In the summer our poultry are raised free range on pasture with shelters that are moved daily onto fresh grass.

They have gone out of their way to get a humane certification for their livestock. Using certified organic grains and pasture raising the animals seems to have an impact on the meat. Their chicken tastes great and has a nice texture.

Farming is a lot of hard work and certified organic operators often have to go that extra mile to meet standards. You can hear the dedication in their words:

We are guided by our philosophy and strongly believe in the principals of organic and holistic agriculture, as well as the importance of ethical/humane handling of all creatures, including our farm animals.  We are committed to marketing as much of our products as possible directly to the consumer. In this way we can offer the highest quality meats and eggs at a fair price. 

So all their livestock are pastured, including hogs and chickens. This seems to make a difference in the texture of the meat. At least that is how it tastes to this consumer. Pasture has been around since day one but we are still learning things about it. Today, pasture and hay lands can play a huge role in capturing-carbon to help mitigate the climate-crisis.

The people at Sunworks Farm have been showing for years how animals can be part of the climate-crisis solution. More could be done if ranchers widely adopted key ecological practices eg. composting manure, intensive rotational grazing, habitat enhancements on non-productive parts of ranches etc.

Society benefits from the ecological services provided by carbon capture livestock production.