The Ontario Agricultural College
Celebrates 125 Years
By Terry Daynard, OCPA Executive Vice-President
The year 1999 marks the 125th anniversary of the Ontario Agricultural College
(OAC).
The OAC began on May 1, 1874 as the Ontario School of Agriculture and Experimental Farm on 550 acres of land purchased
from Frederick W. Stone near Guelph with seven academic departments – Agriculture, Horticulture, Chemistry, Natural
Sciences, Veterinary Surgery and Practice, English and Mathematics – and several “outside” departments including
The Field, The Livestock, The Horticulture and The Mechanical. The first 20 students were paid two to ten cents
per hour, depending on performance, for part-time work in outside departments as they gained practical experience.
The first field experiments – generally crop and varietal comparisons – began in 1875 and livestock feeding trials
began a year or two later. Interest grew quickly. Between April 1 and October 31, 1879, there were more than 9000
visitors.
The School became the Ontario Agricultural College in 1880. A third year was added to the teaching curriculum in
1887, and the first five “degrees” were issued in October 1888, through a newly created affiliation with the University
of Toronto. OAC graduates were to get degrees granted officially by the University of Toronto until 1965 when the
first class graduated from the University of Guelph.
Many individuals were responsible for early successes of the OAC. Perhaps most notable of all was Charles Zavitz,
one of the first five degree graduates, hired as an assistant experimentalist in charge of field plots. As secretary
of an OAC-associated group called the Ontario Agricultural and Experimental Union, he used this organization, plus
a bimonthly publication called the OAC Review, to expand dramatically the scale of field research at the OAC, and
to distribute the results.
Zavitz evaluated crop varieties and their management. Seed and instructions were sent out to Union members and
Zavitz compiled and distributed the results – about 30,000 copies per year. Farmers could keep and use the seed
from the resulting crops. The number of seed packets distributed grew from 2,642 in 1891 to more than 100,000 in
1924. By 1930, there were more than 2,840 cooperating farmers. In 1894, the Union was considered the largest system
of cooperative experimentation in the world. Between 35,000 and 40,000 farmers visited the OAC in June 1904. Though
many of the crops were traditional small grains, they also included exotic imports like soybeans. The first soybean
varieties went to farmers for testing in 1901. And some think that on-farm research is a new idea!
Much has changed and grown since the days of Charles Zavitz. Plant genetic improvement has moved from Ontario Agricultural
and Experimental Union seed packets, to biotechnology and plant lines grown in the southern hemisphere in winter
to double the speed of seed multiplication.
The OAC played a major role in the expansion of Ontario corn acreage between the 1960s and 1980s. Reasons for expansion
included the introduction of atrazine which permitted adequate quackgrass control in row-crop agriculture, and
the availability of good new early-maturing hybrids. The latter, of which Pride 5 was the best example, were actually
the product of breeding efforts at the Central Experimental Farm (CEF) in Ottawa and elsewhere, but active extension
efforts at the OAC, led by Professor George Jones, encouraged farmers to grow more corn.
The OAC and CEF of Agriculture Canada also played key roles in the expansion of Ontario soybean acreage during
the 1980s and 1990s.
The OAC has provided internationally recognized leadership in many other areas of agricultural technology including
pest management, forage production, cereal crop breeding, crop storage, livestock and poultry genetics, artificial
insemination in livestock, minimum tillage, crop fertilization, horticulture, agricultural policy, and environmental
stewardship. Recent strength has been added in turfgrass management and food technology.
The OAC has had a long, close relationship with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)
– including the many other names which this ministry/department has had over the years. Until the creation of the
University of Guelph in 1964, the OAC was part of the Ontario Department of Agriculture. In years since, the university-ministry
relationship has involved a large contract by which the university (largely the OAC and the Ontario Veterinary
College) provides teaching (diploma program), research, extension, and other services on behalf of the ministry.
The relationship developed further in 1997 when the Ridgetown, Kemptville and Alfred Colleges of Agricultural Technology
joined the university.
The biggest contribution of all has been a steady output of well-trained students at the diploma, undergraduate
degree and graduate level. These graduates provide leadership all around the globe, as they have done for a century
and a quarter.
Congratulations to the Ontario Agricultural College!
(Some of the material provided above was extracted from 125 Years of Achievement, a publication written by the
OAC through a committee consisting of Freeman McEwen, Doug Morrison, Clare Rennie and Jack Tanner – all former
faculty members. Those wanting a copy should contact Agnes Allen, OAC Dean’s office, University of Guelph, 519-824-4120,
ext. 3076).
1