WALKERTON, Ont. — Horses and wagons led the way as the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo got underway with a parade on the outskirts of Walkerton, Ont. The opening parade marks the start of a five-day competition, filled with county fair activities.
The celebration of agriculture — that’s expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors — is one of Ontario’s longest-running traditions. Matches have been held nearly every year in the town since 1913.
This year’s match included 113 participants, some of which came from overseas.
Seventeen of the competitors plowed with horses instead of tractors. The goal: cut a furrow that’s dead straight, with the soil turned over firm and even.
‘Does it cover our costs? No.’
Two-time winner Paul Robinson has been taking part in matches for 45 years. He explained that plowing runs in the family, as his father previously competed with his grandfather.
“I have five grandkids that I’m hoping will get up on the seat one day and try it,” Robinson said.
This year he’s competing in the vintage division, for tractors built at least 70 years ago. He says it’s less about the prize money — top payout is $100 a day — and more about bragging rights.
“Does it cover our costs? No. But what nowadays does?” he said with a chuckle.
What keeps him coming back, rain or shine, is the camaraderie.
A ‘dying art’ and global sport
As farmers turn to more modern ways to plow than with a tractor, some are calling competitive plowing a dying art. But for some in Walkerton, Ont, it’s a full-blown sport, one that even takes place in countries well beyond Canada.
Liam O’Reilly flew in from Ireland to compete, piloting a borrowed 1950 Massey Harris tractor in the vintage class. What struck him most wasn’t the machinery around him; it was who was driving it.
“I’m amazed at the amount of young people and young girls and young women and women in general that are plowing,” O’Reilly said. “Back at home there’d be very few.”
Stephanie Sanders knows how challenging a match can be. She’s chief steward of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association and started plowing in 2007, the same year she met her husband at a match.
“Every day is different,” she said. “Are you going to be plowing on a hill? Are there going to be lots of rocks? Is the ground going to be really hard?”
A ‘tented city’ springs up
The rest of the grounds has been transformed into what organizers call a “tented city” — 100 acres of vendors, exhibits and entertainment, along with a sprawling temporary RV park.
It’s by design, according to Gord Lang, chair of this year’s event. The International Plowing Match has no permanent home; it packs up and moves to a different Ontario community every year.
“It moves all over Ontario. They try to spread it all around and give different counties the chance to showcase their stuff,” Lang said.
“It’s about bringing the people from the city and the towns to the rural area — like, ‘come visit us, we’re farmers, and we’re putting on a show to show everybody what we do.’”
More than 500 exhibitors and 1,600 volunteers are keeping this year’s edition running.
Square dancing tractors and a derby
The entertainment lineup leans into the theme, with daily square dancing tractors and a performance from the Canadian Cowgirls precision drill team.
If watching farmers plow perfectly straight lines feels a little too genteel, organizers have another offering this weekend: a demolition derby fought with combines.
