Farm households in transition: A case study of agricultural industrialization and agroecological impacts on Prince Edward Island, Canada

The history of agricultural industrialization, a complex transition with global and local drivers and effects, is enhanced when local participants in the transition--farm households--contribute to the narrative. This thesis presents an in-depth case study of the household-level motivations and ecological impacts of agriculture during industrialization in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, c. 1960s-present. After a review of the theoretical frameworks for agricultural change studies, the historical context of PEI’s agricultural industrialization and the province-wide ecological effects are analyzed by interpreting historical, scientific, and grey literature. Then, a discussion of farm households’ role in connecting large-scale (often exogenous) factors with small-scale factors provides the background to the novel study, “The Back 50 Project”. Using a public participatory historical GIS (PPHGIS) online survey, this study invited PEI’s agricultural community to use historical maps to describe the agricultural land use change (ALUC) they have engaged in and observed since the start of industrialization. This study found that the strongest motivations for ALUC were proximate causes—namely, households’ resources and goals—rather than high-level historical drivers. The reported agroecological effects tended to concern on-farm ecosystems more than off-farm ecosystems, and they ranged in their harm or benefit, with harmful impacts following the historical contexts. Finally, the synthesis of these historical and ecological contexts with this household-level study aims to create a holistic narrative of PEI’s agricultural change over the past fifty years and provide recommendations for PEI’s future sustainable agricultural development.