Peter Macdonald Abel was born in Dutch Guiana on 5 May 1890, at the age of 6, he moved to the United States following the death of his father. He lived at Cambridge, Massachusetts for ten years before coming to Canada. He homesteaded at Earl Grey, Saskatchewan for three years then enrolled in the Manitoba Agricultural College, graduating in 1913. He then did postgraduate work at the University of Missouri. Prior to the First World War, he was Assistant Editor of the Farm and Ranch Review at Calgary, Alberta and taught in an agricultural school at Claresholm, Alberta for two years. He served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, returning from overseas in 1919, becoming Livestock Editor of The Country Guide. In 1934, he became its editor. He rejoined the army during the Second World War, being awarded the Order of the British Empire with the rank of Colonel in 1944. He returned to Canada and resumed his editorial duties. He died at Winnipeg on 3 July 1952.