History of agriculture in Canada

In the 16th century Samuel de Champlain and Gabriel Sagard recorded that the Iroquois and Huron cultivated the soil for maize or "Indian corn".

[1] Maize (Zea mays), beans (phaseolus), squash (Cucurbita) and the sunflower (Helianthus annus) were grown throughout agricultural lands in North America by the 16th century.

The early immigrants combined European agricultural and domestication procedures with the indigenous knowledge of the land and animals of the area.

As early as 1605, the French Acadians built dikes in the Maritimes for wheat, flax, vegetables, pasturage and marshland farming.

[3] Dairy production is the main contribution of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, along with livestock and mixed farming ventures.

[4] A very small percentage of the land is suitable in Newfoundland and Labrador for horticultural or crop production because there is a lot of forested and tundra geography.

Bonuses were paid for such things as the purchase of pure-bred sires, land clearing, and agriculture exhibition assistance to name a few.

Newfoundland fisheries, supply cod for the most part, followed closely by herring, haddock, lobster, rose fish, seals, and whales.

Although large-scale agriculture was still many years off, Hudson's Bay Company traders, gold rush miners, and missionaries cultivated crops, gardens and raised livestock.

[3] The Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut are covered with the Canadian Shield, and rocky outcrops, sub Arctic forest soils, and stony phases make up most of the geography.

Some Indigenous nations also saw farming as a key practice to help adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, including the decline of bison populations.

[15] Lord Selkirk, founder of the Red River Colony, harvested the first wheat crop in the western prairies in 1814.

[18] Saskatchewan still has cattle ranching along its southwestern corner; grain farming and crops such as wheat, oats, flax, alfalfa, and rapeseed (especially canola) dominate the parkland area.

[21] Between 1896 and 1920 the great Canadian wheat boom was stimulated by rising prices, railway construction and prairie settlement, and supported by new agricultural technology.

Up to 2000 boxcars were inspected in Winnipeg daily with samples taken from each car through 11 equidistant coincident apertures to establish a cross section of the entire truck.