Agriculture along the St. Lawrence

French Quebec (1600s) British Quebec (18th and 19th century) Ontario (18th and 19th century) Industrialization and Urbanization Agriculture Today Selected Bibliography

Agriculture has always been an important livelihood in the St. Lawrence drainage basin. The region was cultivated by First Nation groups for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Many First Nation groups planted riverside crops of maize and tobacco to support their tribes. Europeans began practicing agriculture along the North shore of the St. Lawrence river in the 17th century, first in Quebec and later in Ontario.

Quebec farm land was divided into long lot units.

The first Europeans to cultivate land in Quebec were the French. The people of Nouvelle France planted subsistence crops along the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City. The French implemented a seigniorial agricultural system. Under the system a Seigneur granted a farmer a long rectangular lot to cultivate (about 1.6 km deep and 183 to 213 meters wide). Initially, the lots bordered the St. Lawrence River, but as the population grew additional land away from the river was granted. This pattern of agriculture remains characteristic of Quebec today. The farmers practiced a two system rotational farming.

In the 18th and 19th century, English farmers settled in Southern Quebec.

In the 18th century Canada was a British colony. Many English farmers migrated to Southern Quebec and brought new crops such as potatoes. The majority of the English farmers settled in the Laurentians. The farms were still mainly subsistence based and many of the farmers worked seasonally for the timber industry. Demographic pressures extended the agricultural land towards more marginal areas.

In the 19th century agriculturists settled in the Eastern townships of Quebec. English settlers, the first to come in the region, had access to more capital and were thus able to invest in mechanization of the farming equipment. French farmers started to arrive about 40 years later and came from poorer families of the crowded St. Lawrence Valley and settled marginal lands that they cultivated for subsistence. Many of the farmers also had livestock. Some of the areas near the Gaspé and Northern clay belt were also cultivated at this time.

British settlers farmed 100-200 acre fields.

Farming was an important source of economic wealth.

The first Europeans to cultivate lands in Southern Ontario were 18th century British loyalists who came to settle in Upper Canada. They cultivated the lands along the North shores of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The area was cleared for agriculture very rapidly, 7.6 million hectares of land was cleared by 1871 . The land was surveyed and divided into rural townships with rectangular lots of 100 to 200 acres that were granted to farmers. This land-use pattern still exists in Southern Ontario. The farms were labor intensive and initially grew mainly wheat. The farmers later specialized in various types of livestock rearing. Farming quickly became an important source of economic wealth for English settlers. The most fertile lands in Southern Ontario are located on clay plains along the St. Lawrence water system.

Farming changed significantly in the 19th century.

In the 1860s, industrialization and urbanization began in Canada. As a result, the agricultural economies of Ontario and Quebec changed substantially. Agriculture became a means of economic wealth for many farmers, rather than a means of subsistence. The farmers began to trade their agricultural yields with the United States of America. Also, crops could be transported great distances by train and waterways, farming became increasingly mechanized, average farm size increased and farmers sold their crops in the cities. Many farmers drifted away from agriculture as a livelihood and found industrial jobs in the major cities such as Montreal and Toronto.

Dairy farms are now common along the St. Lawrence River.

Today, agriculture along the shores of the St. Lawrence River is mainly commercial based, servicing large urban centers counting for the bulk of the Canadian population. Most farmers have intensively managed mixed livestock or cattle farms that produce dairy products. There are some agroforestry operations (mostly in peripheral regions), vegetable farms and orchards.

The 1996 Quebec agricultural census indicates the following facts about the current status of Quebec agriculture:

• there are 35 991 farms in Quebec;
• 13 929 farms earned over $100 000 in 1996
• 1 738 809 hectares of land is in crops;
• 8 776 hectares of land is left to fallow in the summer;
• the total pasture land is 519 786 hectares;
• average farm size is 96 hectares;
• the five major crops in Quebec are 1) hay and fodder, 2) grain and corn, 3) Barley, 4) soybeans and 5) oats;
• farm land is managed using irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers and herbicides;
• there are 1 439 743 cows, 151 557 sheep and lambs, 3 443 832 pigs and 25 440 825 hens and chickens; and
• total gross farm receipts in 1995 were $4 972 517 920.

The 1996 Ontario agricultural census indicates the following facts about the current status of Ontario agriculture:

• there are 67 520 farms in Ontario;
• 19 565 farms earned over $100 000 in 1996
• 3 544 927 hectares of land is in crops;
• 19 624 hectares of land is left to fallow in the summer;
• the total pasture land is 1 012 717 hectares;
• average farm size is 83 hectares;
• the five major crops in Quebec are 1) hay and fodder, 2) grain and corn, 3) soybeans, 4) winter wheat and 5) barley;
• farm land is managed using irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers and herbicides;
• there are 2 285 996 cows, 231 087 sheep and lambs, 2 831 082 pigs and 35 596 946 hens and chickens; and
• total gross farm receipts in 1995 were $7 778 476 483.

• Troughton, M.J. Canadian Agriculture. 1982. Budapest: Research Institute of Geography Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Related Web Sites

Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Statistics Canada Ministere de L'agriculture, Pecheries et Alimentation Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs