About the Farm

Campton's Cider Company Ltd. is based on a family farm near Gananoque, Ontario. We grow fruit trees and raise sheep, bringing an old Loyalist farm back into production. At the heart of the farm is Campton's Cider Orchards.

Campton's Cider Orchards started with an experimental planting in 2016, born from a curiosity about how cider fruit could be grown. Much of the information about making cider refers to "bitters, sweets, and sharps" in finding the apples best used for cider, but such apples seemed impossible to find unless one planted the trees. In Ontario, the craft cider sector has been developing very well under the auspices of the Ontario Craft Cider Association, yet the fruit that had provided for the production of cider a century ago had nearly disappeared under the pressures of agricultural modernization. 

Modern orchards are grown in a fairly intensive manner, with precise management obtaining incredible yields. Yet, reading the newsletters of the Ontario Apple Growers is a curious exercise in seeing one page extolling the virtues of the latest spray, then finding the next page bemoaning the increasing resistance of pests and diseases to the available sprays and the need for new sprays or different spray programs. One has to wonder if this intensive cultivation is sustainable - are these levels of productivity reliant on external inputs, leading to very high efficiency but great fragility? Despite being common practice, is this type of orchard cultivation best practice? Should new practices be adopted?

To address these concerns of elusive cider fruit and how it should be grown, an orchard for cider apples and perry pears is being planted on an old farm that was first established by Loyalist settlers over a century ago. Motivated by concerns of farmland preservation and local food production, it seems right to maintain productive farmland near the cities where the produce is needed. Inspired by the farming practices in Normandy, France, sheep are also being raised on the farm to make use of the grass that would otherwise compete with the trees (check out Woolleys' Lamb, which is an inspiring example of this practice). The sheep flock primarily consists of purebred North Country Cheviots, a breed originating from Scotland that is known for hardiness on pasture and excellent maternal instincts. With a very healthy coyote population in the area, sheep that are alert to their surroundings and protective of their lambs are really the only option. 

Near the St. Lawrence River, everything on the farm is raised in a way that is mindful of environmental stewardship. Four guiding principles shape the way that Campton's Cider Orchards grow:

1. Groundwater protection through minimal irrigation and fertilization;

2. Soil protection through pasture management and rotational grazing;

3. Disease prevention through sustainable stocking rates and low planting density; and,

4. Non-lethal predator control through the obstacle of good fencing and the defence of livestock guardian dogs and llamas.