An appraisal of wartime changes in Canadian agriculture

Abstract

Agricultural development has not proceeded smoothly or regularly. Rather it has been characteritzed by varying rates of growth and by divergent characteristics of its development as exemplified by the periods of expansion, World War I, the twenties, the thirties and World War II. As agriculture passed from one period to another, its former condition appeared to be out of adjustment in the current period. Thus agricultural development seemed to be one of continual flux from one disequilibrium to another. Under such circumstances and amidst a maze of exogenous seasonal and cyclical factors, secular trends have been blurred and difficult to discern; and farm entrepreneurs, already a tenacious lot and with their viewpoint focused backward to the agricultural expansion period, have been oblivious of the real requirements of adjustment. For that matter, no one else seemed to know what was innately wrong with agriculture, not even the agricultural experts. The object of this study is to analyse the developments of Canadian agriculture, with particular reference to the recent wartime period, and with the purpose of indicating the significance of the various features of development to the problems and requirements of agricultural adjustment. The particular phases of the objective may be outlined as follows: firstly, to analyse the scope and character of wartime agricultural changes; secondly to appraise the significance of such changes in relation to the trends and factors underlying agricultural development; thirdly to evaluate the implications of such changes in regard to the requirements of agricultural adjustment.