The fonds consists of minutes of the Canadian Council of Agriculture, resolutions, financial statements, reports of committees, briefs, and policy statements (1920-1926); documents of an appeal to the federal Cabinet against increases of freight rates (1918); and a report on the activities of the Council, 1925-1930.
Administrative History
The Canadian Council of Agriculture was formed in 1909. It was initially a council of delegates from the United Farmers of Alberta, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association, the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association, and the Dominion Grange, which was based in Ontario. It was later expanded to include representatives from farmers' organizations in other provinces and representatives from farmers' cooperative enterprises. The Council met to coordinate the political and advocacy initiatives of provincial farmers' organizations. It was instrumental in forming the Progressive Party, an influential coalition in the Dominion Parliament of the 1920s. The Council met two or three times a year, and had a secretariat based in Winnipeg. Henry Wise Wood of Alberta served as its president for several years. It became inactive around 1932, and its function was supplanted by the Canadian Chamber of Agriculture, founded in 1935.
Custodial History
The files were retained by United Farmers of Alberta representatives on the Council.