VANCOUVER – In 1985, Susan Nelson Pier started a business that didn’t work on her farm near Calgary.
The business, Duckworth Farms, was going to sell pate, duck eggs, designer clothing and duck crafts – but mainly pate. After the first year, it became painfully obvious that these weren’t the right choices.
“There was no market (for duck pate) whatsoever,” Nelson Pier told a farm women’s conference.
So the farm was left with tons of duck liver and duck meat.
“We used a shotgun approach that first year and it didn’t work.”
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But what did work was duck eggs. There was a big market for eggs in Eastern Canada, the United States and in some Asian countries. A group which she terms as yuppies wanted duck eggs believing them to be healthier with less cholesterol.
The market was so big that Nelson Pier couldn’t keep up. She eventually had to hire other growers to produce more ducks to lay more eggs. There is also a healthy Asian market for food products made from duck embryos.
Before Duckworth Farms came into being, Nelson Pier farmed with her father producing grain. Her husband worked off the farm. But Nelson Pier had an urge to start her own business. Her farming area east of Calgary produced a lot of grain so an enterprise to use it seemed logical. And the farm had other resources – barns, a fleet of tractors and trucks and a handy, detail man, Nelson Pier’s father. The farm is also located on a major highway.
Family affair
The barns became duck barns, the farm vehicles became the transportation fleet, and Nelson Pier’s father looked after hundreds of details including fixing equipment. The eggs could be shipped quickly to the border to the American market. Nelson Pier’s husband became the financial expert, identifying the money-making parts of the operation and when expansion was needed.
The original duck eggs enterprise diversified into smoked duck meat and salted duck eggs, plus adding five duck egg growers.
Nelson Pier said it was a lot of hard work but exciting and challenging. Last summer, the farm reached another turning point – expand again or sell. Since Nelson Pier’s father wanted to retire, selling seemed the way to go.
But for Nelson Pier, it’s not the end but another beginning. She’s planning another business but won’t reveal details other than to say it will be an agricultural one.
