 The UFA 's first provincial victory took place in 1910 , and involved the construction of agricultural colleges . Premier Alexander Rutherford , always a stalwart ally of the University of Alberta , approved a plan to locate Alberta 's first agricultural college on the university 's campus , in Rutherford 's home town of Strathcona . At the 1910 UFA convention , a resolution proposed putting the college in southern Alberta , though it was supplanted by an Edward Michener motion calling for the UFA 's leadership to consult with the province on a mutually amenable location . After consultation with the UFA , Sifton agreed that , in addition to the college , agricultural schools would be built around the province , and that farmers would be guaranteed representation on the college 's board . In fact , Sifton held off on the establishment of the college all together in favour of the creation of seven demonstration farms in different regions of the province . In 1912 , the government announced the creation of agricultural colleges in connection with three of these farms ( all of them in the ridings of provincial cabinet ministers : Duncan Marshall 's Olds , Claresholm in Archibald McLean 's Lethbridge District , and Sifton 's Vermilion ) . 
