Agriculture From the very start, Saint Quentin had an agricultural vocation.  As soon as spring arrived, the first colonists begin to clear our rich land.  Thanks to these hardworking colonists, it took only a quarter century for prosperity to take hold in this part of the country.  In 1911, 127 lots had been assigned and most of them occupied, amounting to over 500 acres of cleared land, more than half of which was cultivated.  A number of settlers cultivated half of their land.  The real farmers, meanwhile, sought to develop their land as quickly as possible so that they could dedicate themselves entirely to farming and earn a living through it. The establishment of a flour mill in 1933 helped farmers turn their raw products (wheat) into household goods.  In 1940, the Cooperative was founded; eight years later (1948), it was divided into two departments – the buttery (established in 1920 by Mr. Jean-Baptiste Rioux, and specialising in butter-hay-oats) and the shop.  During this period, Saint Quentin was renowned for its production of high-quality butter.  In the 1970s, agriculture in our region underwent a transformation: a number of small farms were bought up and amalgamated for large-scale production.   Hay ride in the old days Jean-Baptiste Chouinard's flour mill   Since 1985, agricultural businesses have become larger and specialised in one or two sectors.  Furthermore, the methods of agricultural exploitation have changed significantly owing to mechanisation; long gone are the days of horse- or cattle-drawn ploughs and iron-wheeled tractors! Unlike in the forties and fifties, which were characterized by a multitude of small-scale, family-oriented livestock breeders, today’s agricultural production is principally focused on milk products, cereals and potatoes, as well as the raising of livestock.  Production is now dominated by farms of 100 milk cows or more.  The livestock population numbers roughly 4000 heads, divided among a dozen farms.  The region’s annual worth is almost eleven million dollars.  In 2005, 11 000 of a possible 15 000 acres of land were cultivated; of these 11 000 acres, 7000 were used for cereals, 1500 for potatoes and the remainder for fodder crops to feed the livestock.  There are currently approximately twenty farmers in Saint Quentin, including the owners of two of New Brunswick’s largest familial agricultural estates.