If you are travelling in northern Saskatchewan this summer I recommend a few hours’ stop at the Seager Wheeler farm, northeast of Rosthern.
Seager wasn’t tall enough to be accepted into the British navy, but he qualified as a real giant in Prairie wheat breeding.
While he got a good deal of international attention by winning the world wheat championship five times between 1911 and 1918, his work in plant breeding and selecting wheat strains suited to prairie conditions proved the real boon to Canadian grain farmers.
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Wheeler was born on the Isle of Wight, where seafaring was considered the natural career. Being short of stature and slight of build, he was rejected by the navy. In 1885 he came to Canada and worked to earn enough money to set himself up in farming.
You can learn all about this remarkable man by visiting the farm, which has been turned into an agricultural demonstration showplace by a local committee, with financial support from industry, government agencies and individuals.
The Seager Wheeler Farm Historical Society, headed by local farmer Larry Janzen, has done a remarkable job of restoring buildings, machinery, field plots, fruit trees and flowers, as they might have looked in the 1920s. They have also arranged displays showing the contrast with modern-day agriculture.
At the season’s opening, a crowd of several hundred saw everything from plowing with horses to demonstrations of massive modern machinery.
If you need any further prodding, on Sundays they serve a dandy brunch.
