1. Agriculture in Canada 4/28/2019 1:06 PM
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2. Some General Ideas
Agriculture is one of Canada’s oldest industries. - native Canadians, early 1600s Nova Scotia
Historically - mostly small family farms which provided for families.
Agriculture today is a multi-billion dollar industry – mix of small farms and large ‘corporate’ farming operations
60 years ago - about 800,000 farms in Canada
Today, there are about 200,000 farms

3. What do Canadians farm? Sector per cent cash Primary market
Grains and Oilseeds (wheat, durum, oats, barley, rye, flax seed, canola, soy beans, rice, and corn)
34%
domestic and export
Livestock (beef cattle, hogs, veal, and lamb)
27%
dairy
12%
domestic
horticulture 9%
poultry and eggs 8%

4. Where do Canadians farm?
Province/Territory
Number of Farms
Ontario
59,729
Alberta
53,652
Saskatchewan
50,598
Quebec
32,139
Manitoba
21,071
British Columbia
20,290
Nova Scotia
3,923
New Brunswick
3,034
Prince Edward Island
1,845
Newfoundland and Labrador
643
Yukon
170
Northwest Territories 30
Nunavut

5. Examples: wheat and beef cattle

7. Back to Thomas Malthus (1700s)
Back to Thomas Malthus (1700s)! He predicted that population would grow faster than food supply

8. His predictions (so far!) have been wrong.

9. The global Green Revolution
Following World War 2, many countries were experiencing food shortage and famine (e.g. India, Pakistan, Mexico etc.) – starvation was very common
1940s – 1970s: research and new technology was used to increase food production
Irrigation techniques, pesticide use, new varieties of crops, synthetic fertilizers
Estimated number of people saved from starvation: 1 Billion!
Considered a great success

11. 5X as much wheat grown on the same amount of land!

12. More crops grown on the same amount of land.

13. Dr. Normal Borlaug
Nobel Peace Prize – for being the “father of the green revolution”
What do you see for the Green Revolution in this century?
Borlaug: The Green Revolution is an ongoing continuum. Millions of people are currently undernourished in the world. The world population for 2025, at a medium fertility rate, is projected to be about 8.3 billion people. I calculate that we will need an additional one billion tons of grain by then. We have to increase yields to feed these people — more bushels per acre, more tons per hectare. Higher yields are especially important now due to spreading urbanization, which takes away agricultural land. (ActionBioscience 2002)

14. Traditional vs. Industrial Farming
Traditional - small farms - manual labour - little mechanization - little chemical use (e.g. pesticides, antibiotics) - crop rotation - fallowing (leaving land unplanted for a year) - compost (use of animal waste as fertilizer)

15. Traditional vs. Industrial Farming
Modern (Intensive) Farming - large farms (often owned by large companies) - highly mechanized - sometimes high manual labour (farm type) - genetically modified species (GMOs) - chemicals – pesticides, chemical fertilizers - monocultures (single crop plantings) - heavy use of fertilizer - constant use of fields
The primary goal is to maximize yields.

16. Traditional vs. Industrial Farming
Traditional farming focuses on farming within the means of the environment (SUSTAINABLE)
Modern farming focuses on maximizing yields (more food per acre of land)
Industrialization occurred along with the advancement of agriculture.
Yields have been (and are being) maximized dramatically, however problems have arisen due to this reality ……

17. Industrial Farming – the issues
Soil degradation  erosion and nutrient loss
Pesticide use  bioaccumulation (e.g. DDT)  pesticide resistant insects
Fertilizer use  runoff  eutrophication
Use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) - public perception issues / corporate patents
Questionable animal and food quality (e.g study showed decrease in mineral content of some fruits/veggies 1950 vs )
Contamination potential (e.g. E.coli)
Ethical issues - treatment of animals

18. In addition, can every farmer in the world afford……
Irrigation Technology?
Equipment?
Synthetic Fertilizers?
Pesticides?

19. Traditional Dairy Farming

20. The newest dairy “farm” in Britain
Will house over 8000 cows which will rarely be outside
Will produce 400,000 litres of milk per day!

21. A “milking parlour”

22. What sorts of issues does this raise?
Think back to the term “sustainability”.
Is modern industrial farming sustainable?
What should the agricultural response be to a growing global population?