Clark has been serving farmers, installing and servicing complete layer, broiler and turkey barns since 1950. As farmers ourselves, we have been delivering quality agri-food products and services with a commitment to safety and innovation for the last seven decades. With a forward-looking focus and 24/7 emergency services, we’re working to ensure top Code of Practice priorities are being taken care of for your flocks – bird health/welfare, productivity and environmental sustainability. Generations later, our outlook hasn’t changed. Your family farm is our family’s business.
The Clark Ag Systems head office and central warehousing facility is proudly located in Caledonia, Ontario. Our loyalty to the area has remained over the years, operating within the community in which W. Murray Clark founded the business almost three quarters of a century ago.
W. Murray Clark Ltd. established the company that bears his name in 1950. Murray Clark was the son of Fred Clark who first became involved in the poultry industry in 1925 with the establishment of a chick hatchery in the basement of his home located west of Caledonia, Ontario.
The company moved to a larger facility in 1953, and again in 1961 to a warehouse on Orkney Street in Caledonia that housed the business until 1988, at which time a new facility was built on the outskirts of Caledonia.
During the 1970s, the company bought National Ideal and began manufacturing Premier cages in Caledonia.
In 1981, W. Murray Clark Ltd. signed an agreement to handle the Favorite line of equipment which included cages. Production of the Premier cages was discontinued.
By 1985 the industry had followed the European trend to nipple style drinkers and W. Murray Clark Ltd. eventually became a major distributor for the Ziggity brand.
The company took on the Farmer Automatic line of cages in 1989 which included classic cages with automated manure removal.
The Clark Companies purchased Farmer Automatic Canada and began distributing equipment across the country.
W. Murray Clark Ltd. became an exclusive distributor for the revolutionary Butterfly feeders across Canada.
In 2009 W. Murray Clark Ltd. and Farmer Automatic Canada Inc. were combined into one national distribution company named Clark Ag Systems Ltd.
In 2010 The Clark Companies partnered with Farmer Automatic in Germany to form Farmer Automatic GmbH & Co. KG, and for the first time became involved in the global manufacturing, marketing and distribution of the Farmer Automatic line of poultry housing, with a special focus on the development of alternative housing systems.
First Farmer Automatic Pullet Rearing and Layer Aviary System installed in Canada
The first Farmer Automatic aviary system, which included the Portal Pullet rearing system and the Step Layer aviary system, was installed in Alberta. This was followed by several installations of the Loggia aviary system and Combi Pullet rearing system across Canada.
As the demand for alternative housing in Canada accelerated, Clark Ag Systems and Farmer Automatic partnered with the University of Guelph in a research project to study layer behaviour in the various types of alternative housing systems being offered. Farmer Automatic and Clark Ag Systems provided the University’s Arkell Research Facility with small poultry housing installations that allowed researcher Dr. Tina Widowski to carry out this important research project.
The first fully enriched Farmer Automatic ECO system was installed in Quebec.
AGCO Corporation acquired Farmer Automatic GmbH & Co. KG from the Clark Companies. Clark Ag Systems continued as the exclusive distributor of Farmer Automatic equipment in Canada. In the same year Clark Ag Systems expanded its operations with the addition of parts warehouses in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Offering enriched, aviary and pullet rearing housing options. Tecno has been around for over 40 years and is one of the most widely known firms at global level in the sector of poultry equipment.
In the same year Clark Ag Systems expanded its operations with the addition of a parts warehouse in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Clark Egg Farms has operated an egg production facility in Haldimand County since 1981. We’ve evolved dramatically since then and are now operating with the most modern “enriched housing” production equipment available. We continue to explore and invest each year in industry leading technologies, managing our facilities with great care, ensuring that our hen health and welfare is maximized each and every day. Our team works hard, day after day to produce nutritious eggs of the highest quality for Canadians from coast to coast.
Clark Poultry Farms has operated several facilities, growing broiler chickens and tom turkeys since 1984. Always forward thinking, we’ve been implementing exciting changes throughout our history. Operating as a division of Clark Poultry Farms, our Clark farming operations produce several acres of cash crop corn, soybeans, wheat, and straw each year in the Haldimand and Norfolk counties area. As one of our several commitments to sustainability, all manure generated from our poultry operations is applied as a nutrient rich fertilizer on all our farming acres.
