150-year-old plowing competition buried by modern farming
The evolution of the farming industry is the main reason a 150-year-old tradition in Niagara won’t be held in 2018.
The Niagara South Plowmen’s Association has cancelled its annual agricultural competition, a series of plowing matches, due to a lack of willing competitors — a result of most farmers eliminating plows as tools from the dayto-day operations in their fields.
Many have moved to no-till farming, a method of growing crops annually without turning soil and instead depending on various conservation efforts that prevent erosion.
Agriculturalists have also learned in recent years that plowing isn’t as effective as it was once thought, creating more problems than benefits, said Debbie Grimes, a lead organizer of the historic gathering of tractors and horse-drawn equipment that has taken place on the Ridgeway-Sherkston border for the past eight years.
“Now, it’s believed it does more harm than good,” said Grimes, secretary-treasurer of the association. “It doesn’t allow the same nourishment to stay in the ground and it’s no longer the way that people farm,” she added.
When the event was considered the cream of the crop locally, close to 100 competitors from all over Ontario would register. In recent years, it’s been difficult bringing participants into the pasture.
“Now, we would be lucky to get 10 or 15,” said Grimes.
“It’s hard to put on a match for such a small quantity of people,” said the Ridgeway resident who has organized the competition across the street in Port Colborne on Townline Road.
“It’s disappointing, seeing a tradition going to the wayside,” she said about the event succumbing to technology and new methods in the industry.
Herbicides and advancements in seeding equipment are also factors in plows being parked in the barn for good.
“It’s just not the way it used to be,” said Grimes.
The competition was organized into eight classes that included antique machines and various furrow sizes.
Grimes is thankful for the use of the Fraser Family Farm in the show’s final era, following the event being held at spots all over Niagara.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have access to this property,” said Grimes.
The event was normally held in September.