"Environmentally Sensitive Area". Please be careful where you walk and try not to disturb the natural environment. For additional information please contact Tourism Saskatchewan.
Indian Head Experimental Farm
GPS:	50d 31.96m N	103d 38.98m W	1808 feet
Location:	Indian Head
By act of parliament, 1886, Dominion Experimental Farms were established under the Department of Agriculture. Their function was to conduct research initiated by the government of Canada relative to the production of crops and livestock.
The federal government was eager to introduce profitable new methods and products; it sought thereby to broaden Canada's agricultural frontiers, especially in the still sparsely settled North-West.
This land, selected in 1887, became the first experimental farm in the North-West Territories. On rich, but dry, open prairie, Indian Head developed and propagated vital dryland cultivation techniques, tested crop varieties and distributed seeds and seedlings to western farmers.
This facility continues to tackle regional agronomic problems.
Angus McKay (1840-1931), a pioneer settler of this district, was superintendent 1888 to 1912. He and his staff attacked the many agricultural problems confronting settlers in the new land. Their first important achievement was successful promotion of the practice of summerfallow.
They and their successors also obtained notable results in the development and distribution of high quality breeding livestock, early maturing, better yielding cereals, and hardy fruit suited to Saskatchewan conditions.
Their efforts did much to improve the lot of early homesteaders, as well as to shape the pattern of today's agricultural practices.