Leigh Syms, retired associate curator of archeology at the Manitoba Museum, holds a replica of a bone hoe once used by First Nations farmers.   Photo: Shannon VanRaes

Manitoba’s agriculture history started long before the sodbusters arrived

Researchers say plants such as lamb’s quarters aren’t here by accident, and growing corn goes back more than a millennium

Does it ever seem that unrelenting weeds such as lamb’s quarters and amaranth were somehow bred to thrive on the Canadian Prairie? In fact, they were. But if you think corn is a new crop in this part of the world, think again — Aboriginal farmers were growing it more than a millennium ago. Technology