From operating a bale wagon to driving a limo, this farmer stays on four wheels as he charts journey into the future
GIBBONS, Alta. — The road to Kevin Sustrik’s farm retirement is driven with a luxury limousine.
During the summer, Sustrik spends most days on his silage harvester, travelling around central Alberta doing custom silage work for other farmers. On the weekends, he drives brides, grooms, concert goers and high school graduates in his luxury coaches.
“This is what I want to do until I can’t drive anymore,” said Sustrik, during a parts run for his Claas silage harvester. Spending time with the groups who rent his 14-person and 24-person coaches for a ski trip, wedding, funeral, golf trips or weekend getaway is a respite from his farming business.
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“Anyone who gets in the limo is there to forget about their troubles and have fun. Sometimes farmers are whiney and you can’t make them happy.”
This spring, Sustrik sold his 24-row corn planter. Gradually selling pieces of farm equipment will reduce his farm income tax bill and ease him into retirement.
His next equipment sale will likely be his four-wheel drive tractor, which he uses to pull the seeder and pack silage. Then he may sell the harvester and silage trucks.
“If you don’t sell them slowly, then you have a tax problem. We have worked too hard all our lives to give it all away in taxes.”
Sustrik started to farm at age nine, when a hired man didn’t show up for harvest and his father needed a driver on their 1,000-acre farm outside Gibbons.
“I was pretty much hooked after that,” he recalls.
Later, his father encouraged him to use their haying equipment for custom work. With a self-propelled bale wagon, it was easy to deliver square bales to horse owners around Edmonton and it became a good source of revenue.
During the 1980s, Sustrik swapped the hay wagon for truck driving, mostly for two nearby oat processing plants.
“That was great because I was home every night.”
In the 1990s, the family rented out the land and Sustrik began his custom silaging and corn-planting business. Land prices increased from nearby oil and gas upgrading facilities and farm expansion didn’t make sense, particularly with his existing line of older equipment.
So, Sustrik bought his first luxury coachliner and started Stand By Me Luxury Coachlines. Containing lights, bathroom, television, music and a bar, the self-contained party vehicle was in business.
Since then, it has become a family business that employs all members at different times of year. His wife, Darlene, steps in as a server. Their daughter, Tiffany, handles the bookings, social media and sometimes acts as the server. Their son, Kris, works for a distillery and creates special cocktails for the bus.
With business booming, Sustrik bought another luxury coach in Phoenix.
“I was a bored farmer in December when I found the second one.”
He is a former truck driver, so there are few communities and rural roads Sustrik hasn’t driven, and a booking outside Edmonton and area is not an obstacle.
One of the most memorable trips was a funeral for a Ukrainian gido, or grandfather. After the ceremony, the casket went in the luggage compartment, the family climbed on board and everyone travelled to the cemetery for the final journey.
Insurance is one of the biggest expenses for the luxury coach business. While each coach can hold more passengers, the limit is set by insurance. Each passenger space requires $2 million in liability insurance, says Sustrik. The first coach is capped at 14 passengers and the second at 24 to limit the insurance bill at $20,000 a year.
Sustrik plans to slowly wind down his farming operation and continue the luxury coach business for many years.
“This is not a stressful job. You meet all kinds of people. I don’t have high blood pressure.”
