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The 1940s in America

Agriculture in Canada

by Nancy M. Gordon

For years, Canada had been described as a natural-resources, or staples, economy, and it remained substantially so during the 1940’s. In 1941, agriculture was second only to manufacturing in Canada’s gross domestic product, but during the decade Canada’s economy began to change from one based on natural resources to one that was predominantly industrial.

The first half of the 1940’s in Canada was dedicated wholly to Canada’s participation in World War II; the second half was focused on the conversion to a peacetime economy. The changes that took place in agriculture during that decade were profound. Canada’s agriculture in 1940 was the major source of export earnings, but it was still troubled by the dislocations that had occurred during the 1930’s, especially the impact of severe drought that had afflicted the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. With the outbreak of World War II, Canadian agriculture became a major source of supplies for Great Britain, the mother country of the majority of Canada’s citizens. Canada supplied a critical portion of Great Britain’s agricultural imports, without which the island nation would not have survived.

Geographical Distribution

The primary determinant of Canadian agriculture is the varied climates of the country. The eastern provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) were heavily wooded but had sections that were important producers of agricultural products. The central provinces, Quebec and Ontario, contained the bulk of Canada’s population but had interspersed with a variety of urban centers agricultural activities that were well suited to the temperate climate of those provinces. Moving westward, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta contained vast stretches of relatively flat land easily cultivated for grain production but hampered by low rainfall and a harsh climate, with a short growing season. At the western end of the country lay the province of British Columbia, whose climate was mild and suitable for agriculture in the valleys but whose rugged terrain had limited farming potential.

The immigrants who came to Canada brought valuable agricultural skills. The earliest immigrants, the French peasants who settled in Canada under the Old Regime, brought a community approach that evolved from the French manorial system. The holdings they had created along the St. Lawrence River periodically redistributed allotments to ensure that all farmers had a land base to support their traditionally very large families. The British immigrants who arrived in the nineteenth century favored individual holdings that the family inherited and could enlarge if the owner was prepared to invest in it. Some radical religious communities, notably the Hutterites who settled on the great plains, brought a system of cooperation that promoted the welfare of the group. In the immediate postwar years, Canada’s willingness to accept refugees brought a number of eastern Europeans into the country.

Crops

The most important Canadian field crop was grain, chiefly spring wheat (planted the preceding fall) and fall wheat—mostly the former. At the beginning of the 1940’s, Canada’s average wheat production was slightly less than 4 million bushels per year. Canada was one of the world’s top producers of wheat, along with the United States, Argentina, and Australia. During the war years, a substantial portion of the wheat crop was exported, chiefly to Great Britain. Prices went up substantially for agricultural products, especially wheat, as the entire wheat crop was sold.

In 1943, the marketing of wheat was wholly entrusted to the Canadian Wheat Board (created in the 1930’s to dispose of unmarketable grain surpluses), which modulated the fluctuations in the price of wheat that had formerly battered producers. In 1946, the British agreed to the Anglo-Canadian Wheat Agreement, which set wheat prices for four years. The British government committed itself to buying around 1.5 million bushels of Canadian wheat annually through 1950 at fixed prices between $1 and $1.55 per bushel. In 1949, Canada also committed to the International Wheat Agreement and promised to supply at least 2 million bushels of wheat annually to the world. The marketing of barley and oats was also turned over to the Wheat Board in 1949.

The production of livestock increased substantially during the 1940’s. The number of cattle on Canadian farms went up by about 20 percent during the early 1940’s, rising from about 8 million in 1940 to more than 10 million by 1944. The number of hogs also rose, from 6 million in 1940 to about 7.5 million by 1944. Livestock and grains were the major sources of farm income in the 1940’s. The number of dairy farms increased during this period, serving primarily the growing population of Canada’s cities. The mechanization of agriculture during the late 1940’s and thereafter made possible further expansion of the beef cattle industry because feed was no longer needed for horses formerly used to power agricultural equipment.

Truck produce, especially potatoes grown both on the prairies and in the central and eastern provinces, was also important, as were dairy products, eggs and chickens, honey and maple syrup, the latter produced chiefly in Quebec. Apples were produced in British Columbia, and leaf tobacco was grown primarily in southern Ontario.

Technological Change

A process of technological change began in Canadian agriculture in the immediate postwar period that was to continue into the following decades. Mechanization really took hold: During the early 1940’s, there was one tractor for every two farms, but by 1976, there were two tractors for every farm as well as additional mechanical equipment, especially combines. Whereas before the 1940’s a single farmer could handle three hundred acres at most, the growth in number and size of farm machinery made it possible for a single farmer to handle several thousand acres. The result was a consolidation of farm holdings and a striking drop in the number of farmers and farm families, especially on the prairies. At the same time, the number of grain elevators decreased, and many railroad lines that had previously served the more numerous, smaller farms, were abandoned. Agriculture became big business.

Impact

During the postwar period, Canadian agriculture began to shift to a highly mechanized operation, especially in the Prairie Provinces in the production of grains. During this time, Canada, along with the United States, provided Great Britain with food that the nation could not produce itself. As Canadian farms grew larger, the labor needed to operate them decreased, and the rural population declined. Canadians moved from the farms to the cities and earned their living by other means.

Citation Types

Type

Format

MLA 9th

Gordon, Nancy M. "Agriculture In Canada." The 1940s in America, edited by Thomas Tandy Lewis, Salem Press, 2010. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1940_100840701008.

APA 7th

Gordon, N. M. (2010). Agriculture in Canada. In T. T. Lewis (Ed.), The 1940s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.

CMOS 17th

Gordon, Nancy M. "Agriculture In Canada." Edited by Thomas Tandy Lewis. The 1940s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2010. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.

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