Unifarm
A Story of Conflict and Change

Carrol Jaques

About the Book

Alberta farmers and ranchers know that, in the frustrating business of agriculture, years of bounty inexplicably turn into years of despair. Looking back over the past half century, Jaques recounts the tumultuous history of the Alberta farm organization, Unifarm. This book documents Alberta farmers' quest to increase control over the forces that have had such an impact on their lives and describes how it led them to form organizations which have afforded them measures of stability and security throughout the past century. Unifarm, one of the most enduring of these organizations, is chronicled from its development in the 1970s to its reorganization as Wild Rose Agricultural Producers in 1995. In discussing the relationship of Unifarm to the business of agriculture, Jaques addresses issues of co-operative philosophy, marketing boards, surface rights, commodity groups, and the importance of education and training for members of the rural community. Unifarm is an important book that sheds new light on the many facets of Alberta's rich agricultural history.

About the Author

Carrol Jaques earned her M.A. in the history of education from the University of Calgary after several years of teaching. Her enduring interest in the social and political history of Alberta was the driving force behind both her master's thesis on the United Farmers of Alberta and this book on Unifarm. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The Early Years
2. Farmers' Union of Alberta
3. Steps to Amalgamation
4. Time for Decision
5. "All Those Peppermints"
6. "Ten Miles Each Way
7. "Boy, You Really Have to Work to Make Democracy Function"
8. Following a Grand Tradition
9. Surface Rights, Land Use, and All That
10. Women of Unifarm: Half the Sky
11. "We Have Got to Get Organized"
12. Under the Umbrella
13. "A Great Degree of Misunderstanding"
14. Showdown
15. Changing Times
16. What To Do?

Epilogue--Wild Rose Agricultureal Producers
Sources
Bibliography

Orders

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