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The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Programme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

A. Stewart
A. Stewart*
Affiliation:
The University of Alberta
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Extract

The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act was passed in April, 1935. The circumstances of the immediately preceding years had precipitated a condition of acute distress throughout wide sections, if not over the entire area, of the three Prairie Provinces. The immediate cause of the distress was the persistence over a period of years of low returns to farm producers, the result of a combination of physical and price factors. Within the area to which the Act has been applied, the dominant factor was probably inadequate precipitation, but the situation as it appeared in 1935 would have been substantially different without the aggravating condition of low prices for the principal farm products. Under the condition of reduced gross revenue the rigidity of certain elements of expense became an important factor contributing to farm and community distress.

An analysis of the causes of the condition of the distressed areas of the Prairie Provinces suggests: that the lands of the dry areas are physically less productive than could have been anticipated with the knowledge available at the time of their settlement and development; that the price of the principal product, wheat, may be expected to be lower than it was, or was expected to be at that time; and that there remains a considerable measure of uncertainty regarding the “normal” level of physical productivity, the annual variations in physical productivity, and the future prices of agricultural products. But local differences are also significant. Even within the areas to which the Act has been applied, there is considerable diversity of physical conditions, and of the combination of resources and organization of production. In addition, errors of judgment respecting physical productivity and price were not uniformly involved throughout. As a result of these diversities the incidence and effects of drought and of price decline have been appreciably different in different localities.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , August 1939 , pp. 310 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1939

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References

1 Vallance, J., Superintendent, Water Development Branch, “Another Year of P.F.R.A.” (radio address, 01 24, 1939).Google Scholar

2 Expenditures under the Act have been: 1935-6, $411,515; 1936-7, $959,818; 1937-8, $1,700,000 (Report on Proceedings under thePrairie Farm Rehabilitation Act for the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 1938). Estimate for 1939, $3,250,000.

3 The area comprises more than 100 million acres of territory extending along the international boundary from the Red River to the Rocky Mountains, and reaching north to Brandon in Manitoba, the Qu'Appelle River in eastern Saskatchewan, Battleford in western Saskatchewan, Wainwright in eastern Alberta, and a few miles north of Calgary in western Alberta. From 1921 to 1937 inclusive, the average annual production of wheat, in the 1939 area, was 242,500,000 bushels; oats, 149,280,000 bushels; barley, 41,300,000 bushels. The area carries a livestock population of over 2¼ million head of cattle and almost 1 million head of sheep. Cattle marketings amount annually to about 200,000 head ( Archibald, E. S., “Livestock Production in the Rehabilitation Programme of the West,” paper presented at the general professional meeting of the Engineering Institute of Canada, 02 15, 1939).Google Scholar

The area in 1938 (88½ million acres), on the basis of the 1931 Census, included about 60 per cent of the occupied acreage of the Prairie Provinces, and 66 per cent of the cultivated land. The farm population, in 1931, was 536,585 persons, or approximately 45 per cent of the total farm population of the three provinces. In terms of acreage and population, roughly 60 per cent of the area was in Saskatchewan, 30 per cent in Alberta, and 10 per cent in Manitoba, (data from Report on Proceedings under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, 1938, p. 31).Google Scholar

4 In early reports the object of the Act was stated as “to enable farmers to remedy the destructive effects of drought and soil-drifting and to take all possible steps to avoid their recurrence”; and “measures are being introduced throughout the drought and soil-drifting areas to secure the most economical utilization of soil moisture for crops, to prevent soil drifting, and to reclaim abandoned farm land for its most suitable use in either crop production or grazing” (Report of the Work Conducted under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act during the Fiscal Year, 1935-36, pp. 1 and 2).

5 Spence, G. Director, P.F.R.A., “The Dominion-Provincial Agreement and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Programme” (radio address, 04 5, 1938).Google Scholar

6 Spence, G., “The P.F.R.A. and Complementary Provincial Legislation” (radio address, 04 12, 1938).Google Scholar The legislation referred to includes the Water Rights Act, the Water Users' Act, and the Irrigation Districts Act affecting water conservation and control; the Land Utilization Act which provides the province with certain powers to secure title to, and determine the use of, land; the Expropriation (Rehabilitation Projects) Act, 1938, which provides for the expropriation of, and payment of compensation for, lands; the Provincial Lands Act under which the province may lease or transfer lands to the Dominion, etc.

7 To date all of the drought area, with the exception of approximately 10 million acres in Alberta, has been covered by reconnaissance surveys, including, in Alberta, 8 million acres of detailed reconnaissance surveys.

8 Spence, G., “Review of the Policies and Objectives of the P.F.R.A.” (radio address, 04 25, 1939).Google Scholar

9 Ibid.

10 Report on Proceedings under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, 1938, p. 8.

11 Will, G. A. D., “Community Pastures—Their Development, Construction and Possibilities” (radio address, 03 7, 1939).Google Scholar

12 Jacobson, W. L. Secretary, P.F.R.A., “Small Water Developments” (radio address, 03 31, 1939).Google Scholar

13 Mann, M., “Development of Irrigation in Relation to Community Pastures” (radio address, Feb. 28, 1939).Google Scholar

14 It has been pointed out that “The P.F.R. Act was never intended for the development of large irrigation projects. The monies that are voted each year would indicate that, if nothing else would” (Vallance, “Another Year of P.F.R.A.”).

“It is realized that the available supply [of water] which can be used for irrigation is not great, particularly if development is confined to gravity projects” ( Russell, B. Senior Engineer, “P.F.R.A. Large Water Developments,” radio address, 03 28, 1939).Google Scholar

15 Vallance, “Another Year of P.F.R.A.”

16 Report of Progress of Larger Conservation Projects to January 24, 1939. “Assistance for large projects is decided for each case on its merits, usually amounting to the full costs of construction. The guiding principle in the selection of large projects is the maximum of benefit to farmers at a minimum cost” (Report on Proceedings under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, 1938, p. 24).

17 Jacobson, W. L., “Résumé of Previous Broadcasts” (radio address, 03 29, 1938)Google Scholar; Spence, “Review of the Policies and Objectives of the P.F.R.A.”

18 Jacobson, “Small Water Developments.”

19 It was laid down as a cardinal principle at the first meeting of this Advisory Committee, and has been reiterated at each succeeding meeting that water stored for irrigation purposes should be used for the production of feeds for livestock” (Mann, “Development of Irrigation in Relation to Community Pastures”).

20 Spence, G., “Land Utilization and Irrigation” (radio address, Feb. 8, 1937).Google Scholar

21 Report of Proceedings under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, 1938, pp. 19-20.

22 Will, “Community Pastures.”

23 Freer, O., Superintendent of Land Utilization Branch, “Community Pastures and Their Relationship to a Livestock Production Programme for the Drought Area” (radio address, Feb. 21, 1939).Google Scholar

24 Will, “Community Pastures.”

25 Ibid.

26 See, Physical and Economic Factors Related to Land Use Classification in Southwest Central Saskatchewan (Ottawa, 1938)Google Scholar; A Preliminary Report on Land Classification in the Sounding Creek Area, Alberta (Ottawa, 1938)Google Scholar; Craig, G. H. and Coke, J., An Economic Survey of Land Utilization in Southern Alberta (Ottawa, 1938)Google Scholar; and various articles in the Economic Annalist, viz.: Watson, W. H., “A Study of 126 Abandoned Farms in the Lomond Area of Southern Alberta” (06, 1936)Google Scholar; Spence, G. C., “Land Utilization in Southwest Central Saskatchewan” (Dec., 1936)Google Scholar; Craig, G. H., “Objectives in the Alberta Land Utilization Survey” (Oct., 1936)Google Scholar; Elliott, G. C., “Real Estate Indebtedness in Southwest Central Saskatchewan” (Feb., 1937)Google Scholar; Craig, G. H., “Land Settlement and Tenancy in the Lomond and Vulcan Districts, Alberta” (04, 1937)Google Scholar; Stewart, A., “Economic Survey in the Drought Area” (06, 1937)Google Scholar; Craig, G. H., “The Acquisition of Land in the Vulcan-Lomond Area of Alberta” (Oct., 1937)Google Scholar; Craig, G. H., “Land and Agricultural Organization in Southern Alberta” (Dec., 1937)Google Scholar; Craig, G. H., “Indebtedness of Farm Operators in the Vulcan-Lomond Areas of Southern Alberta” (Feb. and 04, 1938)Google Scholar; Elliott, G. C., “A Study of Wheat Yields in South Central Saskatchewan” (06, 1938)Google Scholar; Porter, W. D., “Land Utilization Research in Alberta” (Feb., 1939).Google Scholar

27 Freer, ”Community Pastures.”