Farmerettes
Help was hard to find on Ontario farms during the war. Farmers and their sons were granted some latitude in being exempted from military service, but more and more soldiers were needed as the war wore on. Moreover, seasonal labourers — those who hadn’t enlisted — were opting for more lucrative munitions work instead of work on farms.
The shortage of labour was exacerbated by the fact that Canada had to grow more produce to offset the decline in imports from war-torn Europe. By 1917, food shortages were a real fear.
Schools and businesses in Toronto and other cities stepped up to help, offering incentives for students and employees to do farm work. But the biggest novelty was the Farm Service Corps program, which recruited young city women to pick fruit and hoe fields.
Farmers were at first reluctant to give the “city girls” a chance, but some saw no choice. Growers in Niagara’s Beamsville, Grimsby and Winona, Vittoria in Norfolk County, and Oakville and Bronte, were the first to agree to hire women for the 1917 season. More than 1,200 women offered their services, including nearly 500 from the Toronto area.
The “farmerettes,” clad in bloomers and smocks, mainly picked fruit, but some were put to work weeding and hoeing fields, repairing baskets, pitching hay, driving trucks, caring for horses and manning fruit stands. They exceeded farmers’ expectations. In Winona, “The report that the University girls there had hulled strawberries cleaner than any other help, so less fruit was wasted than in previous years, caused the Toronto office to be swamped with orders (for help),” according to a report from the provincial labour branch.
The women worked 10-hour days for low wages, particularly the berry pickers. More than half the berry pickers earned less than $6 per week, and some of them had to pay $4 a week for lodging.
All in all, 1917 wasn’t a great year. The growing season was “abnormally poor” and crop losses were high. But the provincial Organization of Resources Committee and the YWCA vowed improvements for 1918. Courses taught women the basics of farming, farmerettes were offered better wages and working conditions, and more farmers asked for their help. More than 2,400 farmerettes signed up to work in Niagara that year.