Agriculture in the West started with Peter Pond gardening plots at Lake Athabasca in 1778. Although large-scale agriculture was still many years off, Hudson's Bay Company traders, gold rush miners, and missionaries cultivated crops, gardens and raised livestock. The Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut are covered with the Canadian Shield, and rocky outcrops, sub Arctic forest soils, and stony phases make up most of the geography. It is an area of comparatively smaller population and not commercially exploited for the most part. Whaling, prawns, and trapping food processing contribute to agricultural food production here.