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Serving Agriculture:
Canada's Ministers of Agriculture

John Carling

Birthplace

Federal Constituency

Education

Professional Background

Political Affiliation

Political Career

Carling inherited his family's brewing and malting company and was an established businessman long before he entered politics. He started as a city alderman in London in 1854 and stayed in municipal politics for four years. He also represented London in the colonial legislature from 1857 until Confederation. In 1862 he was appointed receiver general.

In the first general election after Confederation, Carling was elected to both Ontario's legislative assembly and the House of Commons, representing London. Provincially, he served as minister of agriculture and public works from 1867 to 1871. He was re-elected as London's representative to the Ontario legislative assembly in 1871 but resigned in 1872 to concentrate on federal politics.

Carling served as the federal MP for London from 1867 to 1874 but was defeated along with Macdonald's Conservative government in the 1874 general election. He was re-elected when the Conservatives regained power in 1878 and appointed to cabinet.

Carling served as postmaster general from 1882 to 1885 and minister of agriculture from 1885 to 1892. When he was defeated as an MP in the election of 1891, Carling was appointed to the Senate and continued to serve as minister of agriculture. He was re-elected MP for London in 1892 and served as minister without portfolio from 1892 to 1894.

Carling was recalled to the Senate in 1896, where he served until his death in 1911.

Industry Issues

In Carling's time, farmers urgently needed advanced agricultural knowledge to help them farm in new Canadian climates. Prairie farmers needed a spring wheat that would ripen before early western frosts; if the government could develop a superior baking wheat for this climate, opportunities for immigration and economic development would follow. Experimental stations in other countries and government stock farms in the Maritimes already had proved valuable in agricultural development. International trade also inspired agricultural research. For example, an American tariff on Canadian barley encouraged the development and promotion of a new malting barley for the British market.

Departmental Developments

Disease control efforts of the period further underscored the need for experimental stations. The testing and development of vaccines for diseases such as anthrax required proper scientific laboratories and controlled test environments.

After a 1889 convention of dairymen's associations in Ottawa, the department extended its activities to cover the dairy industry. Departmental bulletins, conventions and lectures educated farmers about manufacturing butter and cheese and feeding cattle for milk production. Uniform methods for processing dairy products improved their quality and enhanced their potential for export. Experimental dairy stations and systems of co-operative dairying were established in each province after 1891. A dairy school also was established at St-Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1892.

Accomplishments as Minister

Carling's legacy as minister of agriculture was the experimental farm research program. Based on a 1884 House of Commons committee's recommendation and research done by Professor William Saunders, the eventual director of the first experimental farms, the Experimental Farm Station Act was given royal assent in June 1886.

The legislation was so well conceived that only minor amendments, mostly to establish additional farms or make administrative changes, were necessary for 110 years.

The land for the central farm in Ottawa was purchased first, followed by sites for the other regional farms in Brandon, Manitoba; Indian Head, Northwest Territories (now Saskatchewan); Nappan, Nova Scotia; and Agassiz, British Columbia. The first research activities on the farms were testing crop varieties and cultural methods, and gathering information about climate conditions. Once they identified new crops for a region, researchers distributed samples of the improved varieties to local farmers and published information in public bulletins.

Records from 1890 show that the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa was already experimenting with 300 varieties of potatoes, 100 varieties of wheat, 100 varieties of oats and 80 varieties of barley. Crosses made in 1892 between an early-ripening wheat from India and the already-popular Red Fife wheat led to the development of Marquis wheat, world famous for its milling quality and high prairie yields. Indian corn and spring rye were developed as effective hay substitutes for use in years where the prairie hay crop was insufficient to feed livestock through the winter. Upwards of 12,000 seed samples were distributed to farmers and more than 30,000 people were on the farms' mailing list for information.

Thoroughbred livestock available from the farms for breeding also improved local dairy and beef herds. Carling took a keen interest in the farms' development and frequently visited the Ottawa property.

Worth Noting

• The French-speaking assistant to Canada's first dairy commissioner, Dr. James Robinson, was Jean-Charles Chapais, the son of Canada's first agriculture minister.