The War on the Home Front by Hannah G. (:

Farming The war had disrupted agriculture in Europe to which this caused major food shortages Canadian farmers took a large part of food storage's during the war By the end of the war, farmers in the West had doubled the amount of land which was used for wheat farming Cheese exports tripled and pork and beef exports went up like crazy

Industry Canadian businesses found new markets and before the war, factories made goods for only the Canadian market A few factories tried to compete outside of the country But most exports were raw materials Canadian companies started to create armaments (machine guns, artillery, etc.) for the Allied forces Steel companies turned out shell cases while others made fuses and explosives In 1917, Canada was making one third of the shells used by Britain during the war This set a high demand for nickel and copper in northern mines and this further boosted the economy

Industry Canadians made guns, airplane parts, submarines and ships Aluminium, nickel, railway tracks, and timber were all packed up and sent to Europe Uniforms, equipment, and medical supplies were made for the Canadian Army Women entered the workforce to keep the soldiers supplied with the essentials Children worked in fields creating Victory gardens Victory gardens also known as war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable and fruit and herb gardens were planted at private residences and public parks in Canada during World War One to reduce the pressure of the amount of food for the war effort Business people and government officials worked long hours without extra pay

Profiteering Many business people were content to fair mark-up but some tried to “corner the market” on a product The boots, the first Canadian troops were handed out in less than two months The canned meat for soldiers sometimes came from diseased animals Certain industrialist used bribery to get government contracts