53476 RR 223 Ardrossan Alberta, Canada T8E 2L6
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Operation History

1900
01 June

Early 1900’s

The Routh family purchased the current home half section of AFP near Ardrossan (east of Edmonton) from the Adams who homesteaded the land.

1941
16 March

World War 2

John Allam walked across the street after graduating high school at 18 and enlisted in the airforce. John Allam was the pilot of a Halifax bomber during WW2.

1945
01 September

John goes to University & Gets Married

1945-1949. John got his degree from the U of A and did his practicum at the W.G. Bocock and Sons Farm (who had one of the first milking parlors in Alberta) north of Edmonton. While there he courted and eventually married the eldest Bocock child and only daughter, Mary.

1949
12 April

AFP Home Section Purchased

John Allam and his wife Mary purchased the home half section (east of Edmonton) from the Rouths who were grain and hay farming there. John worked during the week at Central Mortgage and Housing for the next 10 years while working on the farm on his evenings and weekends, while John Noblet (John Allam’s Partner) helped the Allams start a swine, dairy, and hay operation

1951
28 May

Birth of First Child

Brian Allam (Chris and Cam’s father) was born. Geoff, Richard and Susan soon followed

1960
13 September

Big Changes to the Farm

Early 1960’s – John Noblet bought land near Ponoka in the early 1960s and moved there to continue farming. Mid 1960’s – John’s sons Brian, Geoff, and Richard were getting old enough to help farm. The swine operation was shut down in 1965 when Geoff was almost eaten by a pig (or so the story goes), and focus shifted to the dairy enterprise.

1967
19 December

Dairy Expansion

1967 – The dairy was expanded to about 40 cows. John and his sons continued expanding the farm together, buying more land, cows, and quota until Geoff left for veterinarian school in Saskatoon in 1972.

1971
19 December

Home Section Expanded

1971 – The quarter section just north of the farm was purchased from George Atkinson.

1972
13 December

Farm Structure Reorganized

Farm Structure was reorganized, Allam Farms Ltd was formed

1975
19 May

Brian Gets Married

1975 – Brian married Judy Wiltzen, whom he met at church. Her father Earl and mother Ann had cattle on a farm east of Elk Island Park. This land (mostly treed acres) has been recently purchased by Judy and remains a retreat for the family.

1976
19 December

Geoff and Richard Finish School

1976 – Geoff returned from vet school and opened two successful veterinary clinics in Edmonton; he is now retired, and still owns a shop at the farm where he works project cars. Richard also left to obtain his engineering degree, then returned to farm.

1977
19 December

Major Expansion

1975-1982 Major expansions were made in the grain and dairy operation. Brian, Richard, John and their wives farmed together. A new 125-cow dairy barn was built and cows with quota were purchased to fill it.

1982
19 December

Point Aux Pins Water Co-op

The Point Aux Pins water co-op was formed with neighbors to bring city water to the farm and local households

1983
01 October

Christopher Allam was born

1988
19 April

Cameron Allam was born

1989
19 April

Farm Expansion

A nearby quarter section was purchased from Reg Marler

19 December

Farm Changes

Richard left to work on a neighbouring farm and then soon after became the Canadian service manager for New Holland. He later sold his ¼ to the Bococks (AFP now rents this 70 arable acre parcel from the Bococks). Geoff still owns a ¼ section and rents it to AFP.

1994
19 December

Addition to the Farm

Ten beef calves were purchased to start Allam Farms’ beef operation.

1995
19 December

Land Expansion

1995- Fall 2001. Land expansion: 125 acres-Blacklands, 150 acres-Mcknights, 250 acres-Dusdals were purchased.

1996
19 December

Passing of John

2001
19 December

Providence Grain Group Inc. Shareholders

Brian, Chris and several other local farmers got together to propose buying the local UGG (United Grain Growers) elevator between Fort Saskatchewan and Lamont. The facility had to be sold due to a competition board ruling involving the merger of UGG and Agricore.  The farmers decided to go ahead with the plan and soon became shareholders in Providence Grain Group Inc.  At the same time, the group bought the UGG elevator in Waskatneau (which has since burned down).

2002
01 May

Chris Graduates High School

Fall of 2002 to spring 2004 – Chris leaves to obtain a 2-year Diploma in Ag. Business at Lake Land College in Vermillion Alberta.

19 May

Record Drought

Summer of 2002 – During the first year of operation, the newly formed grain company, Allam Farms Ltd endured the harshest drought the area had ever experienced. However, due to the lack of crop insurance on the farm, over 7,000 written off acres were salvaged from neighbours to put up enough feed. There were some late nights as canola swaths had to be harvested at night so they would stay frozen and thrash in the combine.

2004
19 April

Land Expansion

Chris purchases Hannamens’ 140 acres

2005
19 December

Changing Focus

First ½ of the dairy and quota is sold to Morris Thalen, the largest dairy farmer in Alberta.

2006
16 March

Thorhild Expansion

March 2006 – Judy Allam sees a small ad in the paper, “Farm For Sale in Thorhild County,” so Brian and Judy take a trip 40 miles north and meet the Tomlinson’s owners of True Seeds, a well-known pedigree seed grower in the Thorhild County. The Tomlinson’s wish was to have a deal put together in two months to sell 4,000 acres, bins, shops and grain handling system.

01 April

Strathcona County Land Expansion

Allam Farms Partnership begins a long term rental agreement with the McGhans

01 September

Cam Leaves for School

2006-2011. Cam attends the U of A and obtains a Bachelor of Arts in Economics

2007
19 May

Doing It All

Winter 2005 to Spring 2007. Allam Farms prepares to double their acres to 7000, milk 90 dairy cows, feed 80 beef, hay 1100 acres

19 July

Ending of an Era

Second ½ of the dairy is sold to Smoky Lake Hutterite Colony. At the time, Barry Robinson, a prominent nutritionist in Western Canada, mentioned that these were some of the best cows in Alberta. The beef herd is also sold at this time.

Before the sale of the dairy, Allam Farms Ltd. peaked milking 210 cows in the late 1990’s. Since the Bococks started milking in 1921, a cow has been milked every morning and night in our family. One of the prominent reasons for Allam Farms’ success, is the dairy operation. The dairy took many man hours and a lot of manual labor put in by Brian feeding cows and managing up to 11 employees at a time, Judy helping in the field and raising baby calves, along with Chris and Cam. Lawrence, an employee who started working with us at 17 years of age, did majority of the morning milkings. The hard work put in before us is why we have a great operation with a bright future.

2008
01 April

Strathcona County Land Expansion

Allam Farms Partnership begins a long term rental agreement with Del Lawrence

19 December

Farmland Expansion

2008-2012. Allam Farms continues to expand and reaches 8500 acres of farm land. Hayland has been broken into cropland.

2012
19 September

Cam & Chris Land Purchase

Fall 2012. Cameron and Christopher complete a deal to purchase 2500 acres. They each create a company (Cameron’s Agricultural Management Corporation and 1676381 Alberta Inc) and split the land purchase between them.

2013
19 April

Allam Farms Ltd Reorganized

Allam Farms Ltd reorganized and Allam Farms Partnership was created to help with succession. This year the company also joined FamilyFarms Group in hopes of keeping the family on the farm.

2015
11 January

FFC Magazine Publication

Allam Farms is featured in a Farm Credit Canada Magazine Article

2016
11 November

Harvest From Hell

Harvest continued late into the winter as our combines and operators headed to neighbours to help. The dryer ran long hours for our grain then neighbours’ grain. More custom drying was taken on this year than ever before, with drying continuing until Late January. If we had we not pushed hard at the beginning of the harvest and dried grain early, there is a good chance crop would still be in the field as was the case for many other farmers. Approximately 10% of the western Canadian crop was left through the winter of 2016/2017.

11 November

Cameron Gets Married

Our CFO Cameron, tied the knot with his fiancé Jennifer, where the sun shines and the tequila flows in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. A fun time was had by all, and we were lucky enough to have some familiar faces join us from around the world.

2017
29 March

Land Expansion

Allam Farms continue to grow adding 800 acres split between the North and South farms.

15 May

Mary`s 90th Birthday

31 May

End of Seeding 2017

The last acre of seed finally goes in, ensuring that seeding has never carried into June at Allam Farms yet. Following horrible harvest conditions last year, fields still remained flooded and many acres could not be seeded. Long nights and many stuck pieces of equipment were the theme of seeding 2017.

31 May

Mary Passes Away

2018
08 June

Baby Allam

Cameron Allam and his wife Jennifer are excited to announce that the newest Allam joined the family. Liam Robert Allam was born on June 8, 2018. He loves his family and his puppies and always has a smile on his face.

28 July

Wedding Bells for COO Chris Allam

The summer brought wonderful times to Allam Farms as COO Chris tied the knot with his fiancé Jessie on the farm on July 28th. Blessed with perfect summer weather, beautiful fresh flowers, a live band, and plenty of champagne to go around, a fun time was had by all.

23 October

Another Tough Harvest

We are starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to harvest weather. A third challenging harvest in a row included some of the crop getting snowed on 3 times! We endured many late nights of grain drying and combining, but got the crop into the bin in store-able condition. To do this required running both grain dryers, 24/7, for weeks at a time which was an unprecidented task. Our team deserves a huge thanks for pulling together to keep our harvest moving during a wet, wintery year.

2019
01 December

Baby Allam

Chris Allam and his wife Jessie are excited to announce that the newest Allam joined the family. Avery Mari Allam was born on December 1, 2019.

2020
20 April

Baby Allam

Cameron Allam and his wife Jennifer are excited to announce that the newest Allam joined the family. Isabelle Brooke Allam was born on April 20, 2020.

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