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The Food Issue
2017
Grains
West
28
WESTERN
CANADA ’ S
AGRICULTURAL
HISTORY
1605
1842
1879
The earliest evidence of wheat being
grown in Canada is documented.
Wheat was planted in Annapolis
Royal, NS, 10 kilometres south of
the Bay of Fundy, 262 years prior to
Confederation.
1800-
1860
JULY 1,
1867
Ontario becomes Canada’s wheat-growing
powerhouse. It’s the primary crop, grown more
plentiful than any other commodity. By 1880,
however, Ontario is producing a minimal amount
of wheat, a trend that still holds true.
Today, agriculture is a vital industry to Canada’s economy
and to the many Canadians it employs in a variety of fields.
Unsurprisingly, agriculture also played a key role in our country’s
development, especially in Western Canada. Here are some of the
highlights from agriculture’s rich history.
Wheat fromGlasgow, Scotland, is sent to a man in Canada named David
Fife. Fife planted the wheat on his Ontario farm, where a distinctive red-hued
crop dotted his land when the wheat had fully matured. He called it Red
Fife. The name stuck and for more than 40 years, Red Fife was the dominant
wheat variety grown in Canada. The baking andmilling industry loved it and
it was readily available to farmers in the British colony.
With the passage of the
British North America Act,
Canada is born. At the time,
Western Canada is loosely
governed and sparsely
populated, consisting mainly
of untouched prairie.
Jean-Charles Chapais is
appointed Canada’s first
minister of agriculture.
Considered one of the Fathers
of Confederation, Chapais
served as agriculture minister
for two-and-a-half years before
his appointment to receiver
general in November 1869.
The first grain elevator in
Western Canada is built in
Niverville, MB, by William
Hespeler—a German
immigrant who also ran a
distillery and grain mill with
his older brother Jacob. The
elevator first stored barley that
was exported overseas.
1881-
1885
The Canadian Pacific
Railway, constructed from
Eastern Canada to British
Columbia over the course
of four years, links Canada
from coast to coast. The
famed “Last Spike” is
driven into place on Nov.
7, 1885, at Craigellachie,
B.C. The transcontinental
railroad was instrumental
in the process of settling
the West and helped
lead to the development
of western cities, such as
Winnipeg, Calgary and
Vancouver.