HEAD OFFICE: MONTREAL, NOVEMBER 1950

AGRICULTURE IN CANADA’S ECONOMY

IARMINGis everyone’sbusiness, not only because than the simpleimplements of modernfarming. The F it furnishesour dailvfood but becauseit is shapingof the mouldboardof a ploughso as to give the base of so many industriesand so much of maximumefficiency with minimumeffort is a problem Canada’strade and commerce. of theutmost nicety. Agricultureis our mostimportant single industry. The Farmer’s Market It employsa quarterof ourgainfully occupied popula- tion. The economicwelfare of the whole nationis Justas agricultureis at thebase of allother prosper- affectedby changesin farm incomeand purchasing ity,so agriculturedepends upon all other industry for power. its stateof well-being.Only in an environmentot high level employment,abundant production~ and high Citypeople have quaint ideas about farm life. They purchasingpower can farmingbe a profitablepursuit. see a farmerliving in his own house,without rent to pay,growing a big partof his ownfood. He is freeto Becauseof limitationsin the homemarket, Canadian work as and when he pleases.He need never fear farmersare dependenton exporttrade. Any attempt unemployment. to keeptheir income at a highlevel requires main- tainingexports at 20 to 40 percent of theirproduction. Thesethings are true,but the impressionturns out Farmershave high interestnot only in the normal differentlyif we followa successfulfarmer around the functioningof the Canadianeconomy, but also in an clock.Success in farmingis theresult of clearthinking expandingworld economy,and thereforein world and skilfulmanagement, and a greatdeal of hardwork. peace. The man on the farm is the forcethat weldsland This introducesone of he most provocativeof and equipmentinto a producingunit. He planshis problems.It is easy to say "The more we buy from croprotations, attends to the fertilityof his soil, other countries,the more they can buy from us." balanceshis livestockprogramme with the feedavail- But what we sell them dependsupon the bargainswe able,controls expenses, uses labourand machinery offer.Our pricesmust be in linewith those available efficiently,andfinds his market. in the worldat large,and this compelsus to keep That is a complexbusiness. The changeswrought costsas low as possibleif we are to realizea satis- in farmingduring even one lifetimeare astounding. factorynet income. Today’sfarmer must be ableto use and maintainpower machinery,hire and superviselabour, obtain and Thereare many countrieswhere, if they had the managelarge amounts of capital,control expenses, purchasingpower, Canadian wheat and meat and attaina balancebetween all phasesof his farm’s fruitcould be usedto advantage.To developthem into business,and applyhis own physicalenergy as his marketsis the aim of sectionsof the UnitedNations, fathersdid. of PresidentTruman’s point four programme,and of thegifts and loansmade so munificentlyby Canada. Not allthis is to be learnedin books.Farming is an ancientoccupation. It has gatheredround it a vast Canada’s Farms fundof wisdomand skill,transmitted from father to son on the thinair of oraltradition or of livingex- Agriculturewas not Canada’sleading economic ample. We must not underestimatethe worth and activityuntil comparatively recent times. Vernon C. powerof thisbody of rurallore and technique. Fowke, AssociateProfessor of Economicsat the Universityof Saskatchewan,said in his bookentitled There are probablyno instrumentsknown to any CanadianAgricultural Policy, the HistoricalPattern: craftwhich are moreperfect in theiradaptation, with "Untilperhaps a hundredyears ago it was not agricul- morefine points upon which success or failuredepend. turalprospects which attracted newcomers to venture energiesand resourcesin the New World.... Agricul- and the numberof farmsreporting debt coveredby ture,it mightbe said,was not indigenousto Canada; mortgagesand agreementsof sale dropped from it was establishedand expandedonly under conditions 120,318to 66,846. of extremeand prolongeddifficulty." This,of course,reflects an easierfarm income Theprofitable and attractive opportunities in Canada period.The prosperityand well-beingof farmersdo wereof othersorts, generally commercial. But when not dependon agriculturehaving any givenpropor- thelast census was taken it showedthat 39 per centof tion of the nationalincome, but on achievingand Canadianmanufacturing plants were engaged in maintainingadequate income per worker. workingupon Canadianfarm products.In turn,the farmsof Canadarepresent a vastpotential market for It is impossibleto givea figurewhich will represent industrialproducts. Estimates based .on the census the net incomeof a farmer,because it varieswith indicatethat practically half the Canadianmarket for every communityand farm, and year by year. The productsof citymanufacture is providedby farmers. estimates,however, are interesting. Cash incomefrom the sale of farm products,the Where are these farms, and who own them? The most importantincome component,represents the followingtable, compiled at the timeof the census, grossreturns from all productssold off farms,valued tellsthe story: at pricesreceived by thefarmers. This figure reached an all-timehigh in 1948,and recededa triflein 1949 to $2,457million. As to how the incomewas madeup, hereare interestingdetails from the StatisticalSum- maryof the Bank of Canada.

Mechanization The developmentof labour-savingmachinery has been a big featureof Canadianagriculture. Anyone Farm Finances lookingaround the averageCanadian farm todayis amazedwhen he thinksthat it was onlyin 1837that Goodfarmers have little difficulty, today, with their John Deeremade his firststeel plough from an old financing.Proper financing, both from the long-and saw blade.Canadian farmers certainly are notlike the short-termcredit standpoints, can meana greatdeal nativeson a South Americanestate who alloweda in successor failure,but sources of creditare plentiful. valuablesteel cart to rustin idlenessbecause it did Canadianchartered banks provide a largeshare of the short-termcredit used by farmers.Their local branch not squeaklike their old woodencarts. managersknow the financialand personalrating of At the half-waymark of the 20thcentury, a survey the localfarmers, and advancesare readilyarranged. of the technologicalchanges in farm life seemsto indicatethat farm peoplehave benefitted.The ef- In talkingof credit,it is wellto emphasizethe value fectshave not all beengood, but thelevels of living of a trueappraisal by the farmerof his needs,his for farm people have improvedmost in the areas abilityto repay,and the most economicalsource of wherethe greatestchanges have occurred. creditto meethis situation.Too easycredit should be avoidedif it meanstaking excessive risks, and the In 1901 the totalvalue of machineryon Canadian farmershould consult his banker,or someoneelse farmswas $108,665,502,an averageper farmof $213 equallyfamiliar with the broad agricultural picture as andper acre$1.71. In twentyyears the total had grown wellas withlocal conditions, before making decisions. to $665,180,416,the valueper farmhad increasedto $935,and the valueper acre was $4.72.In the ten Creditneeds to be used judiciously.Credit for yearsprior to 1948Canadian farmers spent more than productivepurposes is justifiedwhen after careful and $740 millionon machineryand equipment;in the one conservativecalculation the prospectivereturns from year,1948, they spent $237 per farm,on the average. the ventureamount to more than the cost. As was pointedout in the C.B.C.Summer Fallow programme, The transformationin Canada’s agriculture by these in a playentitled Country Banker, the Canadianbanks, successivechanges from hand power to horse power whileeager to advancecredit for farmexpansion and and then to machinepower goes far beyond mere development,are equallykeen to save farmersfrom laboursaving. It has alteredthe Canadianfarm from embarkingon expenditureswhich would end in grief a placewhere diversified production was pursuedfor for bothlender and borrower. home use to specializedproduction for the market. It shouldbe mentionedin thisregard that the census Efficientuse of machineryis of thegreatest impor- of 1946in the prairieprovinces showed 81 percentless tancein keepingdown costsand therebyincreasing indebtednesscovered by liensthan ten yearsbefore, profit.It is justas wastefulto useunnecessary machinery as it is to haveinadequate machinery. It is wasteful, All revenuefrom farmoperation is obtainedthrough too, when machineryis not properlyprotected from the mediumof cropsand livestock,and soil is the the weather.The costof protectionis discussedby basic resourcein their production.Income yield H. R. Hare,Agricultural Adviser, the NationalEm- dependsto a largeextent upon land beingused for ploymentService, in his bookFarm Business Manage- purposesfor which it is bestsuited. ment.Mr. Hareestimates that in the dampclimate of EasternCanada it will pay to spendas much as 20 Rough and stony land may break the heart and per centof the valueof the farmmachinery in con- exhaustthe bankaccount of the man who triesto till structinga building for its shelter, while in thedrier it for crops,but may returngood earnings when used atmosphereof the PrairieProvinces no more than for pastureor woodlots.Other land may produce 10 per cent of the machineryvalue should be so spindlyplants, or plantsdeficient in nutrientqualities, expended. becausethe mineralshave been exhausted by repeated croppingor by erosion.This land can be broughtback Family Farms to productivityby cartingout a long-termplan ot Farmingin Canadais, for the most part, of thefamily fertilization,crop rotatton, and rational cultivation. farmkind. All peopleon the farm contributeto the Farmershave realizedthat increasedyields can be generalprogramme, and all economicand social obtainedby theuse of fertilizers.Sales of fertilizer activitiesare sharedin common. materialsand mixturesfor use in Canadarose from 170,000tons in 1927 to 742,000tons in 1949. This ideal of productionfor a common family purpose,of buildinga familyand perpetuatinga Making Work Easier prosperous,productive estate, is one of the greatest Howeverit is approached,farm work is hardwork. factorsin addingdignity to familylife. No artificial The farmerowes it to himselfto makeit as easyand methodsare neededto bringtogether the membersof as efficientas possible. a familyfarm. In no othersphere of lifedo we find thesexes quite as indispensablefor each other’s well Thegeneral layout of thefarm can be suchas to save beingas theyprove in the country. bothland and labour, and at thesame time to increase One farmer’swife said: "An importantadvantage is the very desirablemargin between cost and gross thatfarm life makes it easierfor thewife’s and hus- income. band’sinterests to be the same.Everything is to be Beforeplunging deeply into expenditure for labour- caredfor and plannedtogether and at homeinstead of savingdevices, the farmershould carefully calculate outsidethe home.Thus a man is not so apt to become theircost and the savingshe hopesthey will produce. a meal,clothing and sheltercoupon for the wife,and Once purchased,the depreciation,repairs and in- she to becomejust cook and housekeeper." surancebecome annual charges. Farmersare, as a class,more independent than any Oneof thegreatest causes of wasteenergy is thelack otherlarge class. The vast majority of themare their of properbuildings and the bad arrangementof build- own employers,heads of independententerprises. ings.The doingof choresis a dailyjob, and a few Big or Small Farm? stepsa daytaken unnecessarily adds up to a lotof miles in a year.Just an unnecessarytrip of 10 rods and Whatsize of farmis requiredto permitan effective returnacross the farmsteadonce a day willresult in use of the labourof the farmfamily and to providea theloss of one anda haftday’s time in a year. minimumacceptable standard of living?There are onlygeneral guides. Professor David L. MacFarlane, Farm magazinesand books providemany sugges- MacdonaldCollege, comments in a Queen’sQuarterly tionsfor a farm’sefficiency. No mancan take a ready- articleon the difficultyof securingan economiccom- made formulaand applyit to his own farm,but the binationof land, labourand machinery.He says: generalsuggestions may be adaptedand tailoredto fit "Withoutimportant exceptions some 85 per cent of particularcircumstances. ourfarms are toosmall or theiroperators too limited in capitalto reachthe degreeof mechanizationcalled Anyoneinterested in literaturedealing with farm for by economicstandards." operationshould write to his provincialdepartment of agricultureor to thefederal authorities. Acreageis nota finaltest of efficientproduction. Morecapital may be investedand morelabour applied ApplyingScience on ten acresintensively farmed than upon a thousand acresextensively farmed, with equallygood income Scienceis at hand,too, to helpthe farmer.All farm returns.The availableevidence seems to show that people,and the economygenerally, will benefit by the family-operatedfarms which are large enough to discoveriesof scientistsand the technologicaldeve- utilizelabour-saving equipment and otherimproved lopmentswhich flow from them. techniquesusually can competeeffectively, so far as The farmer’sbusiness has to do withthe manipula- providinga goodliving level goes, with large-scale tionof nature,and naturebrooks no radicaldeparture units. from its accustomedways: it cannotbe trickedor No articleissued by thisBank, which has always had deluded.In olden times, farmerswere guidedby at heartthe wiseuse of Canada’snatural resources, superstition:today the questionsin farmingar0 wouldbe completewithout mention of conservation. answeredby men who have wroughtout the problems by researchin the agriculturalcolleges and experiment reachinghis standardthan havemost citydwellers. stations.There are in operation29 experimentalfarms Many of the thingsfor whichcity folk yearn are and stations,64 sub-stations,and 9 branchlaborato- commonplaceto the farmer,not as superficialities,but ries.The collegesof agriculturehave agencies through as therealities of everydayliving. whichevery type of farm informationis available. Thereare countyand districtagricultural represen- Nature,with whichthe farm familyhas so close tativesspecially trained in theagriculture that is typical contact,is straight-forwardand sincere.There are, consequently,fewer artificialities in the rural commu- of thelocality in whichthey serve. nity.Associations are highly personal, so thatpretense Farm managementinvolves the joiningtogether of is practicallyimpossible. The farmeris accustomed principlesand factsfrom many sources. It requiresan to sayingwhat he thinksand meaningwhat he says. understandingof basiceconomics, of severalnatural sciences,and of appliedsciences such as agronomy But the farm cannothold its youngpeople unless and animalhusbandry. The farmerneeds to adjusthis communitylife can be made attractive,social life farmoperations to the varyingconditions of soiland agreeable,and incomecomparable with what would climate;he musthave in mindthe requirementsof the be earnedin cities.There needs to be opportunity,too, market,his costs,and the developmentof his farmto for intellectualand aestheticenjoyment, for health meetthe needsof nextyear. servicesand education. Thereare no blueprintsfor thiskind of efficient Muchhas been donein the pastquarter century by management.Keen thinkingbased on soundinforma- the introductionof ruralmail delivery, telephones, tion,and planningbased on the farm’sresources and automobilesand radiosto overcomethe isolationof limitationsfrankly faced m theseare theessentials of farmdwellers. The church,as always,has beento the good management. forefrontin buildingup a wholesomesocial life and fosteringmutual helpfulness, and the schoolhas be- How theyare appliedis a personalmatter with the come, in thousandsof communities,the centreof individualfarmer. One man may be contentto accept planningand improvement. a low return,with its consequentlow livingstandard; many more will wish to apply the knowledgefreely It is onlyas farmpeople themselves catch a visionof availableto them in an effortto raisetheir family living a bettercommunity, and commandthe many agencies levelat once,and bequeathto theirsuccessors farms at theirdisposal to makeit a reality,that farm life will whichhave improvedunder their administration. roachits highestpeak of happiness.There is no social legislationthat can do it for them.The achievement Recordsare HelpJul mustcome from within the communityitself. One of the bestaids to managementis a set of good Farmingis a wayof life,as wellas beinga business. records.Incomplete accounting in urbanbusiness is Manyfarm homes, though ha.ring little of a physical chargedwith being the causeof morefailures than any natureto make them attractive,are centreswhere otherbusiness short-coming, and surelywe may at- youngand oldenjoy all thatis mostprecious in family tributean equalproportion of farmfailures and of living.There is a compulsionof nobilityupon the mediocresuccess to the samecause. man in closetouch with nature. Thereis no simplesystem applicable to all farms, Thereare hardships.Like pioneering, farming has becauseevery farmer has his own ideasof work,of alwaysrequired unusual amounts of industry,thrift helpand of ambition.The systemof greatestuseful- and stamina.The peopleare misledwho thinkthat nessis theone that tells the individual farmer the most becausethey have read of one hen thatlaid 300 eggs abouthis businesswithout making too greatdemands in a year,and of one cow thatproduced 10,000 quarts uponhis time.Such a recordwill show him not only of milkin a year,therefore farming is a softjob. Life thetotal results of his year’sfarming, but the p.art on a farmis a long-drawnquestion mark betweenone contributedto his profitor lossby eachenterprise. cropand the next.There are alwaysnew anxieties. Thereare specialforms to assistfarmers in prepara- The farmermust plan for nextyear before this year’s tionof a farmbudget, available free of chargefrom the cropis harvested,and forthe year after, and the year EconomicsDivision, Department of Agriculture, afterthat. He mustdo painstakingwork today with no Ottawa.A Farmers’Account Book, providing a simple prospectof seeinga tangibleresult for years to come. and practicalmethod of keepingfarm records,is Farmingis not static,but sprightly. The farmer is a publishedfor freedistribution by The RoyalBank of man versatileand resourceful,able to decidewhat is Canada.It may be obtainedon requestto a local to be donenext, out of a greatpressure of duties.His branch,or from head office.A Milk WeightRecord work has more variety,more roomfor initiativeand bookis offeredby the Bankto keepersof dairyherds. self-directionthan the workof a cityartisan or fore- Bookletson woodlotsand conservationmay also be man.All thisis accompaniedby an ancientand single- had withoutcharge. eyedsimplicity of purpose. The Farm Way of Li]e Thereis as muchdignity in tillinga fieldas in writ- One’sstandard of livingcan be whatone wishesto inga poem;the farmer,more than all others on earth, makeit: the problem then is to reachit. To mostpeople takesthe soil,the winds,the clouds and the sunbeams it willseem as if the farmerhas greaterchance of intopartnership.

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