On July 1, 1867, Canada’s federal Department of Agriculture was created. Today, the country’s agriculture and agri-food sector forms a $100 billion a year industry.
Globally, Canada is the fifth-largest exporter and its agricultural products are prized worldwide. This is a huge achievement for such a young country.
Agriculture has also been instrumental in Canadian nation-building providing the foundation for the modern settlement of the Western Prairies. At the turn of the 20th century the Canadian Government was offering quarter sections for $10 and was trying to attract immigration from abroad. At first, a trickle of pioneers ventured out to establish their homesteads with some coming as early as the late 1800s. And a cowboy culture was developing around open range ranching practiced in the 1880s in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. It was not until the CP railway was built and branch lines extended into the deep south that widespread agricultural settlement took place.
The immigrant farmers came by the thousands from Europe and the U.S. They first grew crops to provide subsistence but they were growing crops for economic returns within a generation by the 1920s. By this time, most of the available agricultural land was occupied and the land broken.
Canadian agriculture has witnessed many landmarks since 1867 with the launching of new crop varieties and the development of new technologies and practices. Most farming before the Second World War was done manually and with horses. Post-WWII mechanization led to a growth in farm size and acreage production. Agriculture has come a long way in 150 years with sophisticated genetic research and computers playing as great a role in crop and livestock production as the tractor and harvester. Farming practices have also developed over 150 years. Today, conservation and sustainability are not just modern buzz words but are vital to the future of agriculture on the Prairies.
Although the number of farms have dropped significantly over the century, Canadian agriculture is unlikely to disappear. Resilient Canadian producers have weathered major droughts in the 1930s and 1980s as well as many periods of economic crises. Today, agriculture and agri-foods is one of the most stable sectors of the economy employing one in eight Canadians.
