The University Farm expands in the 1970s

Photo Field Day at Kernen Farm — July 15, 1982. Archives photo: G.M. Simpson fonds 181

By Patrick Hayes, University Archives

In April of 1909, Saskatoon was chosen as the site for the new University of Saskatchewan. A unique aspect of the campus was the inclusion of a College of Agriculture and its associated farm. It was a common practice of the day to maintain colleges such as Agriculture, Law and Medicine separate from the university. The U of S was to be comprehensive in nature. President Murray argued "that the interests of agricultural Education, no less than those of the University, will be better promoted in this Province by union than by separation."

About 1,300 acres of land was originally purchased with 300 set aside for the campus and buildings. Within a few years another 1,100 acres was added. Though the College of Agriculture did not open until the autumn of 1912, three faculty members had been hired in 1909 and by the spring of 1910 over 600 of the University Farm’s acres were sown in various crops. In addition to field crops, the farm became well-stocked with livestock and poultry, and rapidly became a centre for agriculture research in Canada.

As the university and college expanded so did the demand for space on the farm. In the 1970s three new sites were added. The university bought the seven quarter-section John Goodale Farm nine miles south of the city in 1972. Two years later through a combination of gift and purchase, the three-section farm of Frieda and Reinhold Termuende, 75 miles east of the city, was added. The final acquisition was two sections of land one mile east of Saskatoon on Highway No. 5. It was donated by Fred W. Kernen, a graduate of the College of Agriculture (1939) and part-time extensionist with the Department of Crop Science. Included in the gift were 300 acres of virgin prairie.