Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture 1955, Part 1

Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture 1955, Part 1General agricultural background and analysis of farm enterprises. The physical geography. Topographical features -- Geology and soils -- Climate -- Evolution of agriculture thus far. Early obstacles to settlement -- Gradual development of interest in agriculture -- More recent developments -- Farming types and methods -- Markets and marketing methods -- Policy and program developments -- The general agricultural situation at present. Effects of small scaleness on costs and prices -- Further factors affecting costs -- Factors governing competitive ability -- Current farmer attitudes -- Type of farming trends -- Miscellaneous considerations -- Supplementary versus commercial agriculture. The limitations of supplementary farming -- Some advantages of commercial farming -- Conclusions and recommendations re types of farming -- Livestock. Farm livestock of Newfoundland. Hogs -- Cattle -- Sheep -- Goats -- Horses -- Breeds of cattle in Newfoundland -- Breeds of sheep in Newfoundland -- Conditions affecting the livestock industry in Newfoundland -- Choice of breeds. Suggested breeds of sheep -- Suggested breeds of cattle -- Public cold storages and abattoirs -- The dairy enterprise. The situation in the St. John's area -- Prices and price policy -- Conditions making for monopoly and competition -- Milk production methods -- The labour cost situation -- The surplus milk problem -- The situation in the Corner Brook area -- The threat of mainland competition -- Distribution conditions, methods and costs -- General summary and recommendations -- The poultry enterprise. Recent expansion of commercial production -- Advantages and disadvantages of poultry farming -- Some major problems -- Market potentialities -- The poultry meat situation -- The vegetable enterprise. Why vegetable production hsa been emphasized -- The Newfoundland market for vegetables -- Types and degrees of protection possessed by Newfoundland producers -- Competitive advantages of Newfoundland producers -- Competitive disadvantages of Newfoundland producers -- The general competitive situation -- The requirements for improvement -- Domestic fruit growing. The general situation regarding fruit production -- The case for a fruit-growing enterprise -- Why commercial fruit-growing has not developed -- The requirements for expansion of fruit-growing -- Some suggestions re special horticultural activities -- Blueberries. Cultural methods -- Harvesting the crop -- Marketing -- Processing by fish factories -- Conclusions. General -- Private control -- Grading and inspection -- Marketing -- Preparation for market -- Experimentation and guidance -- Other wild fruits -- Fur farming. Past policies and programs -- Reasons for the limited degree of success achieved -- The general requirements for success in modern fur farming -- Meeting the requirements for success under Newfoundland conditions -- Administration and extension. Problems -- Organization -- Head office -- Allied service -- Choice of technical staff -- The field service -- Conserving time for important duties -- Office work -- Choice of fieldmen -- Boys and girls -- Farm women -- Development and utilization of agricultural resources. Introduction -- Supply of agricultural land. Physical characteristics determining suitability of land for agriculture -- Soil characteristics in Newfoundland -- Special problems of soils in Newfoundland. Soil improvement and management -- Reclamation of organic soils. Organic soils in Newfoundland -- Chemical composition of peat soils -- Considerations in the use of organic soils -- Topography -- Stoniness and vegetative cover -- Climate -- Location -- The scope of agriculture. Amount of land available for agriculture -- Physical influences on kinds of agriculture -- Problems of utilizing more agricultural land -- Tenure and title. Pattern of land settlement. Land ownership -- Common rights -- Unused and abandoned lands -- Problems of the settlement pattern. Land held through occupancy only -- Common rights -- Unused lands -- Methods of improving land tenure. Prescripted lands -- Identification of claims by survey -- Proving claims. Kinds of proof required -- Kind of claims -- A co-ordinated program needed -- Recording of claims. Form of registration agency -- Other preventative measures -- Legislation required. New legislation -- Amendments to existing legislation -- Improvement of common lands -- Utilization of abandoned and other unused lands. Methods of control of unused lands. Expropriation -- Police power -- Taxation -- Other methods of control of unused lands -- Forfeiture of conditional grants -- Legislation required. Abandoned lands legislation -- Wild lands legislation -- Vacant lands legislation -- Problems of improving land utilization. Improving the use of private land -- Improving the use of crown lands. Problems of crown land administration -- Problems of crown land distribution. Crown land surveys -- The size of farms -- Tenure arrangements -- Limitations on crown land distribution -- Substituting private use for common use -- Problems of organizing public services -- Problems of land clearing and development. Land clearing programs -- Special problems in land clearing -- Methods of improving land clearing -- Human resources. Size and growth of the population -- Characteristics of the population -- Health and education -- Labour force, employment and earnings -- Migration -- Underemployment and agriculture -- Need for increased extension and education -- Summary -- Capital resources and credit. Capital in Newfoundland agriculture -- Capital and credit problems in Newfoundland agriculture -- The supply of agricultural credit in Newfoundland -- Possibilities for further capital development -- Appendix 1. Forward [sic] -- Introduction -- Review of the pertinent literature -- General description of Newfoundland -- Discussion of land classes. Ground moraine (GM). Distribution and extent -- Geology and soils -- Topography -- Vegetation -- Drainage -- Principal land development and soil management problems -- End moraine (EM). Distribution and extent -- Geology and soils -- Topography -- Vegetation -- Drainage -- Principal land development and soil management problems -- Glaciofluvium (GF). Distribution and extent -- Geology and soils -- Topography -- Drainage -- Principal land development and soil management problems -- Recent alluvium (RA). Distribution and extent -- Geology and soils -- Topography -- Vegetation -- Drainage -- Principal land development and soil management problems -- Marine sediments (MS). Distribution and extent -- Geology and soils -- Topography -- Vegetation -- Drainage -- Principal land development and soil management problems -- Bog, muck and pond (BMP). Distribution and extent -- Description -- Principal land development and management problems -- Areas of bedrock exposure (BR). Distribution of extent -- Description -- Principal land development and management problems -- Land class phases. Barrens phase. Distribution and extent -- Description -- Principal land development and management problems -- Bedrock controlled phase. Distribution and extent -- Description -- Principal land development and management problems -- Poorly drained phase. Distribution and extent -- Description -- Principal land development and management problems -- Some uses of the information developed in the present survey -- Areas recommended for ground investigation. Figures 1 to 24 -- Index map -- 10 map-sheets -- Legend -- Appendix 2: List of organizations, and interested groups from whom information was received either by direct evidence at hearings or through personal interviews with members or representatives of the Commission -- List of organizations and persons from whom written submissions have been received -- List of government and other public institutions who supplied information to the Commission -- List of districts where special meetings with farm groups were held -- List of land settlements and other farming districts visited by the Commission to study general farming conditions, methods and possibilities of agricultural expansion -- List of coastal settlements visited by boat to examine and observe conditions -- List of specialists from the Federal Department of Agriculture who conducted special studies or gave expert advice in connection with particular problemsA.M. Shaw, chairmanIncludes bibliographical reference