The formation of agricultural societies

When new lands were cleared for agriculture, sometimes the family occupying a lot would be too poor in cash to be able to buy adequate equipment and livestock, and so those in a particular area would band together to collectively buy what they needed and take on some debt. The Government granted these societies certain privileges and guarantees so they could meet the goal of building prosperity for all. Need a better quality of livestock? The local Agricultural Society would buy a prize bull to upgrade everyone's herd. The government wanted that Society to show what it was doing with its privilege, and so all these societies operate under the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs and its predecessors.

The role of the society

The focus has always been in upgrading agriculture. So Fairs became the place where through competition, innovation related to agriculture was shown and taught. At various times that innovation has been in livestock (our Fair is famous for our area's quality of cattle), farm machinery, field crop seeds, and weed management, erosion control, and food processing, and so on. Nowadays mechanical competence is a large and popular part (as in our Demo Derby's and Tractor Pulls). What happens in the pits at these events before and after the competitions is what the real innovation is all about, incredible teamwork under time pressure, and management of risks.

And Homecraft, the business of how a farm family creates a quality of life that keeps its members up to speed on the wider society at large, as well as showing the skills and accomplishments of its members in the rural home.