Description:
For as long as humans have walked the earth, they have drawn their sustenance from the land Early hunters and gatherers made the first crude attempts to raise crops. As agriculture developed, the need for reliable food sources continued to lure people to new lands.
When the first immigrants began arriving in North America four hundred years ago, they faced the challenge of adapting
European farming methods to this new and unknown land. As settlements spread from east to west, the changing climate and geography produced markedly different agricultural practices across the continent. Still, regardless of crop or locale, every farm had the same basic need-power. Horses emerged as a critical source and the services required to breed, equip and maintain them often became an essential part of the first communities that dotted the landscape. Horses remained a key necessity well into the 1920s.
Without them, farms would be incapable of producing the volume needed to generate income.
Even with this strong labor force, farmers faced many challenges; some caused by climate-early frosts, drought and short growing seasons; others the result of ill-informed farming practices. Particularly in the west, the soil dried up and blew away. Grasshopper infestations were commonplace. Disease often claimed crops and livestock. Farmers adapted. They began to diversify, but wheat remained the all-important crop, fueled by demand across the nation and worldwide. In just a few generations, the first seeds sown by the pioneers had yielded of one of Canada's defining industries.
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