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.
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.
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 parlor in Alberta) north of Edmonton. While there he (23) courted and eventually married the eldest Bocock child and only daughter, Mary (21).
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
Birth of First Child
Brian Allam (Chris and Cam’s father) was born. Geoff, Richard and Susan soon followed
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 to 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.
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.
Home Section Expanded
1971 – The quarter section just north of the farm was purchased from George Atkinson.
Farm Structure Reorganized
Farm Structure was reorganized, Allam Farms Ltd was formed
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.
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.
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.
Developer Deal
Early 1980’s – Developers wanted to purchase the south ¼ of the home ½ for sewage lagoons; Allam Farms traded 70 arable acres known now as Richards for 300 arable acres (the Bienart ½). The development didn’t work out and Allam Farms purchased Richards back. This began a phase of expansion in grain operations.
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
Christopher Allam was born
Cameron Allam was born
Farm Expansion
A nearby quarter section was purchased from Reg Marler
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.
Addition to the Farm
Ten beef calves were purchased to start Allam Farms’ beef operation.
Land Expansion
1995- Fall 2001. Land expansion: 125 acres-Blacklands, 150 acres-Mcknights, 250 acres-Dusdals were purchased.
Passing of John
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).
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.
Record Drought
Summer of 2002 – During the first year of operation, the newly formed grain company, Allam Farms Ltd and central Alberta endured the harshest drought the area had ever experienced. However, both companies prevailed. Allam Farms needed to salvage over 7,000 acres of crop insurance written off acres from neighbors to put up enough feed. Allam Farms did not have crop insurance, and therefore has purchased crop insurance every year since. There were some late nights as canola swaths had to be harvested at night so they would stay frozen and thrash in the combine.
Land Expansion
Chris purchases Hannamens’ 140 acres
Changing Focus
First ½ of the dairy and quota is sold to Morris Thalen, the largest dairy farmer in Alberta.
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 sold by May 2006. This was too short of a time line for Allam Farms to double their acres.
Strathcona County Land Expansion
Allam Farms Partnership begins a long term rental agreement with the McGhans
Thorhild Negotations
Summer-fall of 2006 – Negotiations with the Tomlinsion’s continue on Oct 1, 2006 with the balance due April 1, 2007
Cam Leaves for School
2006-2011. Cam attends the U of A and obtains a Bachelor of Arts in Economics
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 and switch from John Deere to Case IH harvesting equipment (which only lasted a year).
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.
Moving Forward
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.
Strathcona County Land Expansion
Allam Farms Partnership begins a long term rental agreement with Del Lawrence
Farmland Expansion
2008-2012. Allam Farms continues to expand and reaches 8500 acres of farm land. Hayland has been broken into cropland.
Cam & Chris Land Purchase
Fall 2012. Cameron and Christopher complete a deal with Greg Green 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.
Joining Forces
Allam Farms and Kalco arms bid on the same 1000 acres owned by John Orichowski. Instead of biding against each other the two farms work together to reduce work load and the fun name “KALLP” is coined; Kalco Allam Limited Liability Partnership.
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.
FFC Magazine Publication
Allam Farms is featured in a Farm Credit Canada Magazine Article
Harvest From Hell
Harvest didn’t finish until Nov 10th. Harvest continued after November 10th 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.
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.
Land Expansion
Allam Farms continue to grow adding 800 acres split between the North and South farms.
Mary`s 90th Birthday
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.
Mary Passes Away
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.
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.
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.