AGRICULTURE

Background Information
Lesson Plans
Online Activities
Multimedia Items
Related WWW Links

Background Information

• Agriculture: The Relationship Between Aboriginal Farmers and Non-Aboriginal Farmers
• Métis Colonies/Experimental Farms in Saskatchewan
• Métis Farming in Saskatchewan
• Grasshopper Campaigns in Saskatchewan During the 1930s - Learn about the grasshopper campaigns and the devastation that the grasshopper brought to Saskatchewan.
• Heavy Horses at Saskatchewan’s Fairs During the 1920s - Learn about the horses and their role in Saskatchewan before mechanical power.
• Rural Electrification in Saskatchewan During the 1950s - Learn more about how electricity made farm life easier.
• Forms of Energy on the Farm - The changes in forms of energy which have powered agricultural equipment from past to present.
• A detailed, labeled image of a combine.
• Image of cornshelling. Image of sweeppower. Image of windmill.
• A detailed, labeled image of a threshing machine.
• Development of Agricultural Equipment. Background information that will enable the student to be able to trace the major steps in the development of agricultural equipment in Saskatchewan.
• Dairy and Poultry - Will familiarize the students with equipment used for processing dairy and poultry products, circa 1920 and will acquaint the students with the production methods of milk and milk products.

A complete listing of articles is available in Background Information.

Lesson Plans

• Forms of Energy on the Farm - Teacher Discussion Guide
• Machinery Teacher Discussion Guide
• Machinery Timeline
• Pioneer Farming Activity and answers
• A detailed, labeled image of a combine.
• A detailed, labeled image of a threshing machine.
• Saskatchewan Agriculture - In this module you will complete a research assignment and make a presentation on one of the many crop varieties grown in Saskatchewan. You will also take part in a discussion on the importance and impact of agriculture in Saskatchewan.

Online Activities

• Agriculture Word search - The Pioneer Years - Students become familiar with the farming vocabulary of the pioneer years. (Source: Saskatchewan Western Development Museum's Teacher Handbook)
• Agriculture Word search (with hidden pioneer phrase) - In this word search, once you have found all the words, you will be able to spell out a well known pioneer phrase with the letters remaining. (Source: Saskatchewan Western Development Museum's Teacher Handbook)
• Changes in Farming Practices - A fill in the blank activity that covers many aspects about how farming has changed.

Multimedia Items (Photo Galleries, Interviews, Movies)

• Growth and Change on the Farm - Irene Slotzer, A Telephone Operator: Not every rural town had a telephone exchange in the early part of the 20th century, but for those that did, the switchboard operator often became a central character in the community. (FRENCH Version)
• CBC - The Depression Years: "Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, there's no place like Saskatchewan; we sit and gaze across the plain and wonder why it never rains…"

  These words from the song Saskatchewan were written during the 1930s, when Westerners suffered from severe drought conditions for almost a decade. In this 1958 radio clip from Assignment, the hosts look back at the difficulties of the Depression-era drought before playing this memorable ballad.
  

• Please check our photo galleries for images on this theme.

Related Links

History of Agriculture in Saskatchewan

• “The New Pioneers” Saskatchewan: The History of Agriculture - a six page PDF document on the history of agriculture in Saskatchewan
• Saskatchewan Interactive – The History of Agriculture
• Seager Wheeler Farm - A Canadian National Historic Site