Case study of a PRIMARY INDUSTRY in a MEDC

Extensive wheat farming in the Canadian Prairies

Location and background:
Canada is a wealthy MEDC with a HDI score of 0.91 making it 6 th/187
in the world.
GDP per capita is $40,587 a year, one of the worlds highest.
The country enjoys high standards of housing, education, health etc.
Canada is one of the worlds most important wheat growing and
exporting countries.
The main wheat growing area is in the south of Canada known as
The Prairies which comprises the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and
Saskatechewan.

Physical advantages of the Prairies for wheat growing

The landscape of the Prairies is very level, making efficient,
mechanised farming easier.
The warm dry Chinnok winds in the spring quickly melt the snow giving
farmers 120 frost-free days a year (90 needed for wheat to grow)
The soil is a dark, fertile soil called chernozem, so only little extra
nutrients are needed.
Severe winters with hard frosts help to break up the soil into fine
particles
Summers are warm and sunny, helping the wheat to ripen and dry
Rainfall levels are often <750 mm a year which is sometimes
marginal for wheat so pivot irrigation is needed.

Human factors favouring wheat growing

The government supports farmers with generous loans and subsidies
to grow wheat.
The Canadian Wheat Board gives a guaranteed market and a
guaranteed price so farmers are secure and are willing to invest in new
technologies.
There are very efficient and fast road and rail links from the Prairies to
ports in the west like Vancouver and Prince Rupert and through the
Great Lakes via Thunder Bay, Churchill and Halifax to export the wheat
at low cost.
Many farmers join together to form co-operatives, bulk buying
fertilizers/chemicals, sharing expensive machinery etc.

What are the main changes which are taking place?

Small, family-owned farms has decreased, large agribusiness farms
has increased.
Farming is more intensive, with more and more mechanisation and
greater inputs of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides

 New strains of wheat are being grown which are more drought, frost,
disease and pest resistant, and also fast maturing
Farming methods are used to combat soil erosion e.g. crop rotation,
strip farming, trash farming and planting shelter belts
More and more farms are diversifying into other crops due to
competition from overseas growers.
There is pressure from Canadian taxpayers to have government
subsidies to farmers reduced, or eliminated altogether