Agriculture in Upper Canada

Part of a series on the
History of Ontario
Timeline
First Nations Pays d'en Haut 1500s–1763 Province of Quebec 1763–1791 Upper Canada 1791–1841 Canada West 1841–1867 Ontario 1867–present
Upper Canada Topics
Legislative Assembly The Family Compact The Reform Movement Upper Canada Rebellion Agriculture Work and labour organization Corporations Imprisonment for debt Book & newspaper publishers Orange Order
Province of Canada Topics
Legislative Assembly Responsible Government Underground Railroad Burning of the Parliament Buildings Confederation
Province of Ontario topics
Ontario portal
v t e

Upper Canada (now Ontario) had few exports with which to pay for its imported manufactured needs. For those who settled in rural areas, debt could be paid off only through the sale of wheat and flour. However, for much of the 1820s, the price of wheat went through cycles of boom and bust depending upon the British markets that ultimately provided the credit upon which the farmer lived.

In the decade 1830-9, exports of wheat averaged less than £1 per person a year (less than £6 per household), and in the 1820s just half that.^[1]