Agriculture: then and now - Harvesting grain (Video)

How much time does a combine harvester save the average farmer today compared to 150 years ago? We’ve come a long way.

Video transcript

[Upbeat music.]

[White background]

Text on screen: agriculture: then and now

Text on screen: harvesting grain

[Fade to a black and white picture of an old man with a scythe.]

Text on screen: then

Female narrator:
Then: Farmers used a simple scythe to harvest their grain. They could cut an acre a day.

Text on screen: 1 acre

[An icon of a clock with its hands turning appears next to text.]

Then they had to thresh it. An average farm was small and it fed about five people,

Text on screen: fed 5 people

…mostly the family living on the farm.

[Image changes to a black and white picture of a man looking at a combine harvester in action.]

Text on screen: now

[Picture gradually turns to colour.]

Now: With a combine harvester, farmers can cut and thresh 150 acres of grain a day.

Text on screen: 150 acres

[An icon of a clock with its hands turning appears next to text.]

The average farm today is larger and it feeds more than 120 people –

Text on screen: feeds 120+ people

…here and around the world.

[Fade to white.]

We’ve come a long way.

Text on screen: We’ve come a long way.

[Upbeat music fades out.]

[Canada wordmark]

Text on screen: (c) Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food (2017)

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