News from our rich agriculture history

The Farms.com farm and rural history website is dedicated to celebrating and digitizing the last 150 years of success in the Canadian agriculture and food industry. The agriculture and food industries in Canada have a rich heritage of innovation, and have laid a foundation of excellence upon which we continue to grow. We celebrate Canada’s food and agriculture innovations on these pages.

Safety on the King’s Highway

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | DECEMBER 18, 1919 | THE FARMER's ADVOCATE

An automobile came tearing through the night not long ago on a much-travelled highway. The glaring headlights cast volumes of light across the road, but blinded the vision of a pilgrim who happened to be travelling in a horse-drawn vehicle. For an instant the man hesitated; the horse was paralyzed with fright, but the suspense did not last for long. Crash! The car, without hesitating, went on

This cartoon, published in the June 14, 1924 issue of the Canadian Countryman celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Ontario Agricultural College (now part of

This artifact is a milk strainer, separator or “cream harvester”. The device’s function is to take raw milk and separate its cream and skimmed milk

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Factors Essential to Increasing Fertility

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | MAY 16, 1912 | THE FARMER'S ADVOCATE

The increase in soil productivity, if such is ever made, must depend largely on the four following factors, cited by C.R. Barns of Minnesota Agricultural College, viz: (1) A liberal and persistent use of fertilizers; (2) the careful selection of seed, which, if persisted in year after year will of itself result in a great increase in yield; (3) a systematic rotation of crops; (4) better

William McCraney

DECEMBER 15, 1831 - JUNE 21, 1911

William McCraney was born on December 15, 1831 in Trafalgar township, Halton county, Upper Canada. His parents, Hiram and Louisa McCraney were one of the first settler families in Halton, being granted the land as did many other United Empire Loyalists who fled the newly-formed United States in the wake of the War of Independence. The McCraney’s were thus substantial landowners in the region, and contributed much to its early development. William McCraney used his family’s resources and his savvy business sense to make a name for himself and become a much-respected figure in

Gilbert “Gil” Henderson

SEPTEMBER 5, 1926 – JANUARY 30, 2017

Farmer and conservationist. Born Sept. 5, 1926; died Jan. 30, 2017 in Brantford, age 90.

Conservation influenced most of Gil Henderson’s work in agriculture.

He earned a 2010 Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Award for lifetime achievement for his conservation efforts. Together with his wife Molly, Gil won the Environmental Stewardship Award from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association in 1998. The couple also won the Brant County Farm Family of the Year Award in 1997. They ran Onondaga Farms, a

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News from our rich agriculture history

Safety on the King’s Highway

Johnston Hall

MILK STRAINER

Factors Essential to Increasing Fertility

lives lived

William McCraney

Gilbert “Gil” Henderson