At the time of the Red River Colony, farming is practiced on a small scale, based on the population's needs and, especially, on the size of the existing market, as well as on pre-industrial agricultural techniques.
Most of the farm work in the Métis colony is done manually, including ploughing, seeding, and harvesting. Although the plough might be pulled by an ox, the scythe, the sickle, the rake, the spade, the pitchfork, the cradle scythe, and the flail are all manual implements that the colony's men and women handle quite skilfully. Long after the arrival of mechanization, these implements remain in common use in outlying regions less affected by market requirements, on farms based more on a subsistence economy, and for vegetable gardens where they are still useful tools.

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