232 THEISLAND ACADIANS

tural institutes and clubs petered out during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The cheese factory in Abram’s Village closed its doors in 1952 and joined several other cheese factories in Prince County to form the Amalgamated Dairies Ltd. The factory in Tignish closed down in 1961.

Despite all this, various self-help groups were created during the same period. A circle of farmers was formed in Rustico with the aim of jointly purchasing agricultural machinery so that about a dozen farmers could share the same tractor and other equipment. This pro- vided a practical solution to the high cost of machinery”. In 1953 the parish of Egmont Bay saw the formation of a circle of Cheviot sheep producers which lasted for about ten years’*. The Acadian Farm- ers’ Co-operative, organized in the same region in 1955, enabled farmers to unite in order to market potatoes, operate a flour mill, and buy agricultural equipment and other items like lime, chemical fertilizer and feed. This co-operative was dissolved in 1978 mainly because of the limited number of farmers”.

The drop in the number of Acadian farmers had a direct effect on the Egmont Bay and Mont Carmel Agricultural Exhibition. When the Fair was founded, participation was restricted to exhibitors from these two parishes, but in order to survive it was gradually expanded to include all of Prince County. Today the majority of entries in the cattle exhibits are no longer submitted by Acadians. Nevertheless, farmers of French origin can now be compared favourably with any other farmer on the Island and elsewhere; such was not the case a few generations ago.

The Prince Edward Island Development Plan of 1969 had a pro- found effect on Acadian farmers and on the entire agricultural commu- nity on the Island. Numerous small farms were sold to the government or to other farmers who wanted to expand their operations. In addi- tion, large tracts of land formerly belonging to Acadians passed into the hands of foreign landowners.

While agriculture still formed the basis of the Island economy, it must be said that the impoverished Acadian farmers were able to contribute little to the radical changes that the industry underwent after the Second World War. It became particularly obvious during the 1960s that the Acadians had slipped into a marginal position in agriculture. To be on the fringes of agricultural production signified a major cultural transformation. One has but to think of the great