Agriculture in Saskatchewan
Agriculture in Saskatchewan is the production of various food, feed, or fiber commodities to fulfill domestic and international human and animal sustenance needs.
[1] Plant cultivation and livestock production have abandoned subsistence agricultural practices in favor of intensive technological farming resulting in cash crops which contribute to the economy of Saskatchewan.
[2] Challenges to the future of Saskatchewan agriculture include developing sustainable water management strategies for a cyclical drought prone climate in south western Saskatchewan, updating dryland farming techniques, stabilizing organic definitions or protocols and the decision to grow, or not to grow genetically modified foods.
[3] Saskatchewan still has cattle ranching along the southwestern corner of the province, However, grain farming and growing crops such as wheat, oats, flax, alfalfa, and rapeseed (especially canola) dominate the parkland area.
Agriculture in Saskatchewan began with First Nations tribal practices where the men would follow livestock movements, a form of transhumance and women and children would remain at home carrying out a hunting and gathering lifestyle.
There was the hunter-gather lifestyle of the mainland which combined the use of buffalo jump hunting methods, fishing, berry, and herb gathering.
Railways were hesitant to build across the prairies, so an intensive immigration policy was implemented to encourage agricultural settlement.
Agricultural science began developing many new styles of farming and strains of wheat and crops so that homesteading could become a successful venture.
[13] With population growth, advances in agricultural science, permanent settled lifestyle farmers started growing cash crops which would provide money giving an economic base for the family.
[15] Plows, tractors, spreaders, combines to name a few are some mechanized implements for the grain crop or horticultural farmer which are labor saving devices.
[17] North America has many times led other international continents as the main producer of wheat in total world production.
To help homesteaders attain an abundance harvest in a foreshortened growing season, varieties of wheat were developed at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Dr. Charles E. Saunders, experimented further with Red Fife, and developed Marquis Wheat, resistant to rust, and came to maturity within 100 days.
[24][25] With intervention of man made irrigation, the soil is suitable for harvesting beans, chickpeas, lentils and peas.
[29][30][31] Horticulture which includes garden crops, and fruits became easier to grow with the development of plant hardiness zones.
Some newer industries have experimented with the agricultural productivity of llama, alpaca, ostrich, rhea, emu, wild boar, deer, and elk.
[37] Scientists have been making forward steps in swine research giving rise to intensive pig farming.
Fowl, poultry, eggs, chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys are part of a supply-managed system, ensuring production matches demand.
[40] In recent years more and more farmers are producing alternative crops and ways of being economically viable, and are turning to organic farming.
Very few farmers engage in cuniculture, or rabbit farming to any significant extent, although they are a new grocery alternative to the red meat burger.
This drought resulted in a mass exodus of population from the prairies, as well as new agricultural practices such as soil conservation, and crop rotation for a few.
[46] Mad cow disease in cattle[47] and scrapie of sheep[48] are monitored by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Plants whose traits can be modified to survive a disease or insect have made inroads into Saskatchewan agricultural practices.
Cereal rusts which can destroy the majority of areas seeded to wheat, was controlled in 1938 by breeding strains which were rust-resistant.
