Description
NOTE: In 2005 the Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador created the “Century Farm Award” to honour farm families across the province who had farmed their land continuously for one hundred years or more and were still actively farming. Heritage NL agreed to post these listings on our website. Please note that these farms are NOT designated by Heritage NL. The listings are commemorative only. All content and images © Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and used with the permission of award recipients.
Information below was current as of 2006-2007.
Conception Bay Farms Limited
Robert Murphy is a hard working person, who loves his work every day, much like his famous ancestor, the Arctic explorer, Robert Bartlett. Although Robert grew up in St John’s, his interest and passion was always farming. “It got in my blood. It was different from city life. It was different altogether.”
Conception Bay Farms Ltd is a Century Farm which traces its roots back from Robert through the Bartlett family of Brigus, Conception Bay. William J Bartlett purchased the farm in 1900 and it passed on to his son, William L. Bartlett in 1931. As a boy, Robert’s escape from the city in the summer holidays was to this farm, to his Aunt Ethel and Uncle Bill Bartlett. At that time, the farm was called Willow Wand Farm.
One of Robert’s jobs was to let the cows out in the morning and to round them up back to the barn at the end of the day. “There was no Trans Canada Highway then. This was the main highway [Conception Bay Highway] so it was nothing for there to be cars lined up, crawling along, waiting for the cows to cross the road!”
Aunt Ethel and Uncle Bill were busy people. He was often away in the fishery; she ran the day to day activities on the farm, along with several hired men. The farm did well: half a dozen milking cows and 200 hens supplied enough milk and eggs to sell locally. This, along with vegetables, gave a fair living. And they made scald cream, especially in strawberry season. As well, the farm was well known for its fine Leghorn and Hampshire hens, many of which were sold to the United States.
World War II provided additional markets for the farm’s production: “They used to go out delivering milk in Brigus. I still have the old milk box. They delivered milk every day, same with the eggs. They used to ship the eggs to the base [American base at Argentia] too…and other times we’d just sell around here.”
Robert reflects on Confederation. With it came many regulations. One of these was the requirement of a cattle barn to have a concrete floor rather than a wooden one. Regulations like these often meant that a farmer had to decide whether to meet the expense of the regulation or give up. Fortunately for Robert, his Uncle Bill was able to build a new barn and continue with cattle, chickens and vegetables.
In 1967 Robert took over the farm. Armed with a business degree in addition to his years of experience on the farm, Robert aimed to make the farm a fulltime living for his family. He specialized in eggs and eventually had one of the largest production units on the island with over 25,000 hens. In 1972 the Egg Marketing Board was established and Robert became heavily involved with it at the provincial level, and, later, he served on the Egg Marketing Board at the national level. However, after some years, Robert saw the difficulties developing in a highly competitive industry. In 2001, he left the egg industry and began to concentrate on beef cattle. Today, Robert carries a herd of about 100 beef cattle with a cow/calf operation. He markets calves throughout Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario.
There have been many ups and downs in the agricultural industry during Robert’s career. And he has met those challenges. Still, he says that he would not trade farming for anything in the world: “I love to be in this business. It’s lots of work but it’s peaceful.”
The Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador is mandated to collect and honour the history of agriculture in this province and to raise public awareness of agriculture as a theme in the story of the province. In 2005 the Society created the Century Farm Award which is meant to identify, recognize and honour any farm family who have continuously farmed the same land for one hundred years or more and who continue to farm it at the present time. This award represents the pioneering agricultural history of the province: some farms supplied the growing town of St. John’s with milk, produce, meat and forage for livery stables; other farms supplied vegetables and butter to fishing communities by coastal boat; and others sent produce and dressed poultry by rail to the new resource towns, such as Grand Falls. Some of the early farmers came directly from the British Isles and others came to Newfoundland from earlier settlements in Nova Scotia. From their early beginnings these farms have survived as productive agricultural businesses by adapting successfully to changing market demands and changing economic circumstances and by adopting innovative technology. They have kept their land in good heart through as many as half a dozen generations. The Century Farm families have earned the Century Farm Award in recognition for their contribution to the history of our province and for their commitment to agriculture in the province’s future.
