In contrast to most industrial activity, agriculture remains today an occupation vulnerable to random natural and environmental events.

Since the era of modern agriculture began on the Prairies, farmers and ranchers, scientists and other professionals have been experimenting and innovating; crop varieties and agricultural practices have been adapted to the environment, or, conversely, efforts have been made to change the environment in the interest of increasing and improving production.

Progressive beliefs about the merits of applying science to agriculture rub shoulders, at least in francophone communities, with more traditional thinking about cultural survival; in the latter case, the idealization of the rural environment is clearly a central component of the elements that make up a franco-Catholic identity.