Titanic connections to agriculture

Titanic connections to agriculture
Apr 15, 2025
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

April 15 marks the 113th anniversary of the ship’s sinking

The wee hours of April 15, 1912, are forever etched in history as the RMS Titanic sank around 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg on the night of April 14.

With that at top of mind, Farms.com is revisiting the first class dinner menu from the Titanic’s last meal to see how much of some products American and Canadian farmers produced based available information.

The meal started with oysters.

The 2023 Census of Aquaculture showed the U.S. had 900 oyster farms that year, which generated nearly $327 million in sales.

In Canada, oyster producers raised 15,079 metric tonnes of oysters, valued at more than $66 million.

Next, guests enjoyed the cream of barley soup.

The 2022 Census of Agriculture indicates the U.S. had 9,112 barley farms across 2.4 million acres. In total, farmers produced 163 million bushels of barley.

In 2024, Canadian barley growers seeded about 6 million acres of the crop, with a total production weight of 7.8 million tonnes.

The next dish on the menu was salmon with a mousseline (Hollandaise) sauce, and cucumber.

Between Atlantic and Pacific salmon in 2023, U.S. producers on 150 farms raised more than 2.5 billion fish totaling more than 38 million pounds.

In 2024, Canadian salmon farmers raised 66,857 metric tonnes of salmon, worth about $949,000.

The first entrée offering for first class Titanic passengers was filet mignons lili.

Last year, American ranchers produced 12.29 million metric tonnes of beef, accounting for 20 percent of global production and making the U.S. the world’s top beef producer.

Canadian ranchers raised 1.31 million metric tonnes of beef. Canada accounts for about 2 percent global beef production and ranks tenth in the world.

This dish was topped with foie gras (duck or goose liver).

In 2022, the U.S. was home to 34,781 duck farms and more than 4.4 million ducks.

Canada produces over six million farmed ducks and geese each year.

Accompanying the filet mignon was a sauté of chicken Lyonnaise (prepared with onions).

In 2023, U.S. poultry producers raised 9.16 billion broilers at a total weight of 59.7 billion pounds. That year, America exported $4.77 billion of poultry meat.

In 2022, Canadian farmers raised about 4 billion pounds of poultry, and exported about 248 million pounds of poultry, valued cad $769 million.

The next entrée featured lamb and mint sauce with vegetable sides including potatoes, peas and carrots.

In 2024, U.S. lamb and mutton production was estimated at 129 million pounds.

In 2022, Canadian producers raised just under 18,000 tonnes of lamb and mutton.

The salad course included a cold asparagus vinaigrette.

In 2024, American farmers raised 458,600cwt of asparagus.

That same year, Canadian growers raised about 224,982cwt of the crop.

Dessert included peaches, chocolate eclairs, and ice cream.

Here’s what else happened in 1912 related to agriculture.

  • Wilbur Scoville created the Scoville scale to measure the heat of peppers.
  • The Canadian National Exhibition holds its first festival under that name, featuring prominent ag displays.
  • The Plant and Quarantine Act of 1912 authorizes the USDA to inspect ag products and restrict entry of infested ag goods.
  • Australian inventor Arthur Clifford Howard invents the first powered rotary tiller.
  • The University of Saskatchewan holds its first agriculture classes.
  • Canada’s Board of Grain Commissioners is established under the Canada Grain Act.
  • John Deere registered the second version of its trademark. It shows a deere jumping over a log.

 

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