Ten Great Food Producers in Alberta’s Wild Rose Agritourism Area

For this weekend’s Insider List, we’re pleased to share 10 great food producers in the Wild Rose Agritourism area.  Located east, south, and north of Calgary, it crosses several county lines.  It’s one of 27 regions in Alberta established to sustain rural places and ways of life.

1. Your Local Ranch north of Airdrie has over 100 years’ experience in Alberta ranching and farming. They are open for tours, and you can shop their stores in Airdrie and Didsbury.
2. Near Irricana, you’ll pass Bear and the Flower where the Fasoli family left city life to grow pasture-raised pork and now cater to South Alberta’s finest restaurants.
3. On one secluded 320 acre spread you might be lucky enough to see a herd of elk and bison belonging to Uncle Bernie’s All Natural Meats ranch. Run by the Pagenkopf family, they also grow grass-finished cattle and pastured poultry.
4. TK Ranch of Alberta’s special areas built their own licensed, inspected meat processing facility near Chestermere to guarantee Southern Albertans access to their humanely-raised, organic beef, pork, and poultry.
5. Near Dalemead, you’ll find Winter’s Turkeys where the Winter family have raised turkeys in clean, open-air conditions for five generations.
6. Eh Farms of Strathmore raises Red Mangalitsa pigs in their natural environment free of pesticides. Mangalista pork is considered the ‘kobe beef’ of pork.
7. Whispering Cedars Ranch grow lamb and breeding stock as other examples of diversity and niche offerings that make life on the land a sustainable prospect.
8. Popular Bluff Organics have been growing organic root vegetables since 1985. Those root vegetables are so tasty they’re an Alberta Signature Food.
9. Also in Strathmore, Field Stone Fruit Wines is an award-winning fruit wine maker utilizing the bounty of saskatoon berries, strawberries, raspberries, chokecherries, and rhubarb they grow.
10. Origin Malting and Brewing in Strathmore has the distinction of being Alberta’s only brewery to both grow and malt their own barley for the beer they produce.