Wheat, genetically a hybrid of various grasses, was one was one of the original grains . In fact, wheat is so important that it warrants its own web page - “Wheat: A Plant That Changed the World.” Although wheat has less direct food value in terms of calories produced per acre (Ma. n.d.) it has advantages over corn (maize) and rice, the grains that outproduce it in this key metric. Corn is more generally used as animal feed, although it can be easy converted to a very high value low bulk commodity, alcohol (Steinson, 1994). Rice has a longer growing season and is intolerant of frost. As the westward expansion in the United States took place the “corn-hog” cycle was the core of the economy. Hogs were released, corn was cultivated and at harvest time the hogs were fattened on the corn, improving their value while the balance of the crop was converted to higher value commodities whether corn meal or alcohol.
In Canada, with its more northern and therefore cooler climate, with concomitant shorter growing seasons, the westward expansion needed a reasonably drought resistant and faster growing crop to support the expanding population and provide an economic base. European settlers were very familiar with wheat and had brought it with them. The Agriculture in the Classroom organization in their introductory publication Foundations of Saskatchewan Agriculture: Wheat (n.d.) traces the expansion of wheat production west from Quebec Province. The very earliest settlements, dating to the 17th Century, were planting wheat with limited success in Quebec. By the mid 18th century wheat was being grown in Saskatchewan with crops reported as early as 1753 although it wasn’t until the late 19th Century that production reached commercial levels. By 1919 four million hectares were in wheat production, primarily the Red Fife strain (Agriculture in the Classroom).
It took the development of Marquis Wheat, reported by Buller (1919) and McGinnis (2004) for wheat to become the dominant crop in the prairie provinces that it is today. Both Buller and McGinnis credit Dr. Charles E. Saunders (1867-1937) with the development of this particular strain. Building on the work of his father, Dr. William Saunders (1836-1914), the first director of the Canadian Experimental Farm System, Dr. Charles E. Saunders crossed several varieties seeking a wheat that was essentially tailored for Canadian conditions. Rich soil and good reliable rain were the positives in the prairie provinces. A shorter growing season was the primary negative and far too often during the “pre-Marquis” days an early frost would ruin a crop (McGinnis, 2004).
Early experiments involved seed stocks from all over the world. Russian, Indian and various western European strains were tried. McGinnis (2004) traces the development: “Dr. William Saunders, Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, imported wheat varieties from Russia, India, Japan, Australia and the USA to be tested alongside Red Fife. Dr. Saunders would eventually come to the conclusion that his answer for an earlier-ripening wheat with superior baking qualities, to fill the niche of the prairies, would lie in improving the maturity of Red Fife.” Using his method of chewing kernels to find the strain with the best elasticity and, thus, the highest gluten content and producer of the best flour for bread (Marquis Wheat: A History of Wheat Developed to Grow in Canada) he ultimately came to a hybrid of Red Fife which had been grown in Canada for some time with hard red Calcutta from India. The high quality of the Red Fife was retained while the shorter growing season of the hard red Calcutta met the requirements of the Canadian climate.
This remains the core of an industry that provides the world with superior bread flour today. Wheat, especially in the prairie provinces remains the key crop. Efforts are ongoing to continue improvement of the strain of course. But at bottom it remains the same Marquis that Saunders developed and which has proved so successful for over a century now.
References
Meeting the World’s Food Challenges. Retrieved from http://www.allaboutwheat.info/default.html
History of Wheat. Retrieved from http://www.allaboutwheat.info/history.html
Buller, Reginald A. H.. (1919). Essays on Wheat Including the Discovery and Introduction of Marquis Wheat, the Early History of Wheat Growing in Manitoba, Wheat in Western Canada, the Origin of Red Bobs and Kitchener, and the Wild Wheat of Palestine. New York. The Macmillan Company. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/essaysonwheatin01goog/essaysonwheatin01goog_djvu.txt
Marquis Wheat: A History of Wheat Developed to Grow in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.abreadaffair.com/bakery-vancouver/marquis-wheat-a-history-of-wheat-developed-to-grow-in-canada/
Foundations of Saskatchewan Agriculture. Agriculture in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.aitc.sk.ca/files/raven/Foundations%20of%20SK%20Ag/Wheat.pdf
McGinnis, Amy. (2004). The Wheat That Won the West: The Impact of Marquis Wheat Development. Winning the Prairie Gamble: The Saskatchewan Story. Retrieved from http://wdm.ca/skteacherguide/WDMResearch/MarquisWheatPaper.pdf
Milton, Katharine. (2000). Hunter-Gatherer Diets: A Different Perspetive. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Volume 71, Number 3, 665-667 March 2000. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/71/3/665.long
Ma, Justin. (n.d.). If you compare the yield of one acre of wheat with the yield of one acre of rice, which can support more people? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/If-you-compare-the-yield-of-one-acre-of-wheat-with-the-yield-of-one-acre-of-rice-which-can-support-more-people
Steinson, Barbara J.(1994) Rural Life in Indiana: 1800-1950. Indiana Magazine of History Volume 90 Issue 3 September, 1994. Indiana University Department of History. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/11393/16495
