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Article: Cropping patterns in the Canadian Prairies: thirty years of change.
- Article from:
- The Geographical Journal
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Blackwell Publishers Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction
From the beginning of widespread agricultural settlement in the late 1800s until the early 1960s, spring wheat, barley, oat and tame hay accounted for most of the cropland in the Canadian Prairies. Since then there have been widespread changes in cropping patterns in the region. Maps based on data for census divisions reveal the patterns of change. The purpose of this paper is to pursue explanations for the main changes within the Prairie region since the 1960s.
Methods
Change in cropping patterns is measured here by establishing the proportion of total cropland occupied by individual crops in the Prairies at various census dates ...