Red Fife wheat

[2] From the mid-1800s until the early 1900s, Red Fife was the dominant variety of wheat grown in Canada and the northern United States, prized for its hardiness, rust resistance, yield, and milling and baking qualities.

[3] Red Fife was first grown in 1842 by David Fife, a farmer in Otonabee Township in Peterborough County, Upper Canada, who had been sent Halychanka seed by a friend in Scotland.

[4] Little is known about the development of Red Fife between 1842 and 1860; but, after that date Red Fife featured prominently in agricultural publications as farmers recommended this new variety of wheat to their peers.

[5] In Canada, by 1876, Red Fife was displacing other varieties of wheat (including Siberian and White Russian) that farmers were only having limited success growing.

[6] In 1988, cultivation of Red Fife was revived by The Heritage Wheat Project (HWP).