The annual event is hosted in a different community each year and this year’s edition marks the first time in almost 100 years the Niagara communities will play host, the IPM organizing committee said in a release. The last time an IPM was hosted in Niagara was 1926.

Renate McGillivray is one of the two local co-chairs for the event. She said the community is very excited to be having this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invite visitors to their region.

“We have a lot to offer in this part of the province and we couldn’t be happier to be hosting this year’s event,” she said.

The IPM was created by the Ontario Plowmen’s Association in 1913 to showcase farmers’ passion for the soil, agriculture and rural living. Today, it’s the largest event of its kind in Canada, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year.

A key feature of the five-day event is plowing competitions, with competitors using old-fashioned horse-drawn plows or tractors with both traditional and modern, high-tech plows. However, the event has evolved to include a “massive” rural expo where the organizers said the main goals continue to be agriculture education and an entertaining experience.

The 2025 IPM will be held at the West Niagara Fairground property Sept. 16-20 and will feature daily entertainment, animal exhibits, demonstrations, local artisans, farm and rural goods and services, a rodeo in addition to the plowing competitions.

Organizers said plans are well underway for the IPM but there are still opportunities to get involved whether as a participant, sponsor or volunteer. For more information visit www.plowingmatch.org/IPM2025 or follow on Facebook (2025 International Plowing Match & Rural Expo).

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In spite of the current decline in the number of COVID-19 cases, the Ontario Government has yet to provide large provincial events with the details concerning capacity limits and additional restrictions. While the IPM plans have been progressing, these uncertainties make it impossible to proceed with an in-person event, the Ontario Plowmen’s Association said in a release.

However, the association said directors and staff are currently developing events and options that will bring the IPM experience to its many dedicated and faithful volunteers, participants and visitors later in the year. Once government regulations for large gatherings are made available, the Ontario Plowmen’s Association will be making further announcements. 

The board of directors has confirmed that the 103^rd International Plowing Match will be held in the Municipality of North Grenville (United Counties of Leeds Grenville) at Kemptville, Ontario.  Scheduled for September 20^th to 24th, 2022, the IPM will be centered around the former Kemptville Agricultural College Campus and the former Kemptville Agricultural College Farm.

Plans are progressing well for IPM 2023 which will be held in Dufferin County. The IPM will return to Kawartha Lakes (Lindsay) in 2024.

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The 2020/2021 IPM will take place in the Municipality of Kawartha Lakes from Wednesday, Oct. 13 to Saturday, Oct. 16. As planned, the IPM will be hosted on the Lindsay Fairgrounds and neighbouring farms.

The traditional IPM features such as the BMO Plowing Competition, the Hydro One Education and the Queen of the Furrow Competition presented by Ontario Mutuals may look different this year.

Alternate designs for both the Tented City and the RV Park are being developed. The revised designs will protect exhibitors, volunteers and visitors with additional health protocols.

“Our provincial and local volunteers will be ramping up their committee planning with conference calls and video calls. And, we really look forward to the in-person committee and community meetings that will be held just as soon as the provincial health situation allows,” said Don Priest, vice-president of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association.

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Host Lindsay will get the chance to welcome plowing and rural enthusiasts in 2021. The 2021 event will be held Oct. 13 to 16, 2021 at the Lindsay Fairgrounds and neighbouring farms.

“The Leadership of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association (OPA) made this most difficult decision while closely monitoring local, provincial and federal government information and regulations,” the organization said in a statement. “The health and safety of our volunteers, sponsors, competitors, visitors and staff will always be our number one priority.”

The IPM draws thousands of people to a tented city that rises from a new farm each year.

This is the third time the IPM has been cancelled. The first was because of the Spanish Flu in 1918 when it’s believed that the mayor of Ottawa and the federal minister of agriculture denied the use of the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa for the match the day before it was to begin.

The IPM also was cancelled during the Second World War.

The Ontario Plowman’s Association also announced that the 104st IPM will be hosted by the OPA in association with the Grenville Plowman’s Association in North Grenville. It will take place Sept. 20 to Sept. 24, 2022, and the Kemptville College campus will be highlighted.

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The annual event will have 14 senior competitors from Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta competing for the title of Canadian Plowing Champion and the opportunity to compete at the 2020 World’s Ploughing Match held on Aug. 8 and 9 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Why it matters: Competition plowing gives farmers the opportunity to see other parts of the country and the world.

Two junior competitors, both from Ontario, will be competing for the title of Canadian Junior Plowing Champion and one-year tuition fees for Olds College in Olds, Alberta.

To qualify, competitors must place first or second at their provincial competition, and invites are extended to competitors who are also very close in points, decided by the Canadian organization.

In Ontario, participants compete at the International Plowing Match, so the Ontario competitors are not yet known.

There are two classes for the seniors to compete in, conventional and reversible plowing.

“We have five in the senior reversible class and nine in the conventional plowing this year,” says Barry Timbers, chair of Canadian Plowing Championship 2019 and 11-time Canadian Plowing Champion. “(Reversible plowing utilizes what’s) called a rollover plow and they just go back and forth on the same side all the time, but they plow on angles.”

Reversible plowmen plow similar to conventional with having to complete a crown and a finish, but they are plowing on an angle throughout the competition field.

Plowmen have half an acre, with a half hour to complete an opening split, which is judged first and then they are given 2.5 hours to plow the entire plot.

“The contestants are judged on straightness of furrows, uniformity of furrows, their ins and outs, ability to cover grass and stubble and their compaction,” says Timbers.

Although the competition is only three days long, the Durham Region has a week of events planned.

Sept. 28 a kick-off dance is taking place at the Sunderland Arena. Competitors will be arriving for the following few days and given time to practice as they arrive.

“Starting on Wednesday we are going to have opening ceremonies for the match, then plowing will commence and Thursday will be tours for spouses and other people involved with the organization,” says Gerrit Herrema, Durham Region Plowmen’s Association president.

Following the competition on Friday will be a banquet to announce the winners for the Junior, Senior Reversible, and Senior Conventional Canadian Plowing Champions.

Many Durham-region residents have gone on to compete in the world’s competition.

“The world championships have been in existence for 66 years. Of those 66 years, 30 times a plowman from the Region of Durham has won a Canadian Championship to move on and represented Canada at a world event — there is no other county or plowman’s association across Canada that can speak to that,” says Cheryl Timbers, general secretary for the Canadian Plowing Organization.

“I know that plowing has been a practice that isn’t used near as much in agriculture as it was 50 years ago but it’s still a practice that has been in agriculture, depending on your situation,” says Herrema. “It’s a great event, it’s an art form that has been lost in a lot of ways and the skill level that these competitors have is quite amazing in what they can do to make a land look pretty much perfect.”

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“We looked at several potential locations for IPM 2020 and this one ticked all the boxes,” says OPA President Sheila Marshall. “It’s a great spot, in a fantastic, agriculturally rich community.”

The IPM, which is held in a different community every year, is a multi-day celebration of agriculture and rural living. It includes plowing competitions, live entertainment on multiple stages, hundreds of exhibitors, demonstrations and educational displays and activities. This event typically attracts more than 80,000 people.

IPM 2020 will be held the week after Thanksgiving. It was pushed back a few weeks from its traditional date in order to fit into the schedule at the Lindsay Exhibition, which will house the Tented City. With a variety of buildings and facilities at the Exhibition, Tented City will take on a new look with its many attractions, activities and hundreds of exhibitors.

Plowing competitions will be held on nearby fields.

IPM 2019 will be held in Verner, West Nipissing from Sept. 17 to 21.

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Wynne spoke to reporters on the opening day of the International Plowing Match in Walton Ont., and refused to move on the aggressive timeline for the adoption of a $15 minimum wage. The general minimum wage is currently $11.40 per hour and Wynne has pledged that it will move to $15 by 2019.

That has caused concern in the business community and for farmers, especially those who need large numbers of employees, at low wages, in order to get off a harvest.

The provincial Liberal government’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, Jeff Leal, who answered questions along with Wynne, gave the example of Charlie Stevens of Wilmot Orchards, a Bowmanville-area apple grower.

Leal pointed out that Stevens, who grows Gala apples, competes with farmers growing Gala apples in Chile, Washington state and Mexico and needs to be able to remain competitive.

Wynne acknowledged there have been discussions about the concerns of farmers who pay their employees minimum wage, but also supply housing and transportation, such as to migrant workers.

“I’ve asked Jeff to look at whether there’s something, some supports that can be put in place,” she said. “I’m not sure exactly what those are going to look like, but we recognize that the agriculture community has some challenges that other sectors don’t.

“We know that there need to be some supports put in place during this transition,” she said.

Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown says he’s heard concerns from farmers about the pace of the adoption of minimum wage.

“A lot of the frustration I’ve heard from farmers over this issue is not particularly over $15, it was over giving enough notice, so they can adapt,” said Brown.

In roundtable discussions with farmers, the increase has been a concern, he said, but a lot of the concern was over the lack of time to adjust to having to pay minimum wage workers an increase of close to 30 per cent.

Brown has not objected to a longer-term phase-in of the increase to $15.

New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horvath also supported an increase to $15 as quickly as possible.

The first day of the International Plowing Match attracts many provincial members of the legislature, their staff and the Queen’s Park press corps. For many, it’s their annual trip to visit the rural community.

This year, politicians also had to slog through mud and rain to deliver their agriculture policy messages. The plowing match cancelled its second day, due to muddy and wet conditions, but was scheduled to be open again Wednesday.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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