By Erica Viegas, ’06 BCom
What goes into Spring Creek cattle —and what doesn’t? They eat a diet of barley silage, barley grain and vitamin E, and then, when they are out on pasture, it’s prairie grasses. Basically, that’s it. They are never given growth hormones or antibiotics. “Sustainability” is a well-used— and often abused—term in food production. What makes Spring Creek earn the label “sustainable”? We’ve developed the technology to take something that’s normally considered a waste product and a nuisance—manure—and convert that into green energy. (See sidebar for how it’s done.) Why is sustainability such an important part of your business model? Agriculture is seen as hard on the environment, especially cattle production. By doing things to change that, we are putting ourselves in a much better position for the next 50 to 100 years, when the environment becomes more of a focus in how people consume. Hormone-free beef was a real rarity when the Spring Creek label was founded in 2006. What made your family decide it was worth the risk? The American grocery store chain Whole Foods was opening their first location in Toronto, and they came to us, and said, “We think you’ll be a good fit for building a program for us that would be hormone- and antibiotic-free.” Even before our green energy program, we’d already won a national environmental stewardship award just for the recycling of water we were doing at our ranch. We’ve always been pretty progressive—even getting into cattle production in the first place. When my dad came back to the family farm after he graduated from the U of A, they were a mixed family farm, producing grains and crops. It’s what everyone in our area was doing. We were
considered cavalier for getting into larger-scale cattle production in this area of Alberta.
Where can people try some Spring Creek beef? Choices Markets in Vancouver and the Calgary Co-op have fresh Spring Creek meat and Safeway has our frozen burgers and meatballs. A lot of great local restaurants also carry us: Café de Ville in Edmonton, Charcut in Calgary and the Vancouver Club in Vancouver. Was there anything in your education at the U of A that has been particularly valuable to you in your work? The networks and the people you meet. Without knowing it at the time, I went to school with people I now do business with. We’ve gone back to the Faculty of ALES and done projects on consumer acceptance and marketing with the students and the professors—and these are the same profs that taught me. What has been the secret to your success? The timing was huge. There was a huge demand for this kind of product, and there was no one else out there doing it. What’s next for you and for Spring Creek? To keep expanding the brand and make it more available to consumers. We want it to be something that’s accessible, so they don’t have to go to a certain grocery store or only on a certain day. So last September, we partnered with Nilsson Brothers Inc. to expand the product nationally and internationally. In the next 10 years, we can have a pretty big impact on the agriculture community, encouraging producers to raise antibiotic- and hormone-free cattle and converting a lot of the commodity production. It’s exciting because it will hopefully encourage more young and innovative people in the industry.
Bern Kotelko
Waste Not, Want Not What do you do with the waste produced by 36,000 head of cattle? Where others saw only a problem to be disposed of, Kirstin’s family saw a multimillion-dollar opportunity. At a biorefinery near the family’s 6,000-acre cattle feed yard, Kirstin’s father, Bern, ’76 BSc(Ag), brother Peter, ’05 BSc(MechE), uncle Mike Kotelko, and business partners Evan, ’88 BCom, and Shane Chrapko, ’90 BSc(Ag), have developed the technology to turn cow manure into a renewable energy, creating a virtuous loop that supplies power to the local community. A feed yard like the Kotelkos’ can produce hundreds of tonnes of waste a day, creating all sorts of problems for the soil, water and air quality in the surrounding area. But their patented technology uses bacteria to digest the manure, producing methane, which can be converted into natural gas. “We currently produce five megawatts of energy, which is enough to power the population of Vegreville,” says Bern, who also runs Highland Feeders. Theirs is the first biorefinery of its kind in Canada, and Bern predicts it will be a huge “game changer” in the cattle industry. “In the next three to five years, more of our revenue will come from energy production than food production.” “Participating in the energy side of the equation has unlimited potential for growth,” says Bern. “And we want to be an active part of creating an industry that is sustainable.” —Sarah Ligon new trail autumn 2012 33