Kent Rathwell doesn’t believe in being passive in business.
The owner of the Sun Country Farms bird food manufacturing facility in Langham, Sask., this year faced the possibility of a sunflower seed shortage because of flooding in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
His solution was to grow the crop himself, even though he had no farming experience.
“We planted them in June and it was a little late,” he said.
Growing 300 acres of sunflowers so late in the planting season was risky, but Rathwell found a solution for that, too. He used a corn planter to seed the crop with precision before spreading liquid fertilizer.
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Solving a supply problem wasn’t his only motivation for getting into farming. He also wanted to encourage farmers in the area to plant sunflowers and believed this could be best achieved by successfully growing a crop.
With a successful harvest of his first crop in its final stages, Rathwell is optimistic about his future in farming.
“I do plan on putting some in to continually have it in this area until we can get more farmers growing it,” said Rathwell.
“We will be expanding our facilities to increase our capacities and potentially the farming side of it, growing the products to make sure they are in Saskatchewan because … in the Prairies we grow very good crops and I want to make sure we have supply.”
Rathwell has also focused on environmental sustainability by purchasing wind generated energy to operate his bird food manufacturing plant.
He said it is not responsible business to produce bird products while contributing to the destruction of their natural habitat.
“I care about the economic and environmental sustainability of our country,” said Rathwell.
Sun Country Farms produces 15 million pounds of birdseed a year. It also markets bird feeders made from recycled material.
•Sunflower seeds are high in energy and packed with protein and fat.
•Birds that eat sunflower seeds include: finches, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, mourning doves, buntings, grosbeaks, juncos and sparrows.
