The 107th International Plowing Match and Rural Expo (IPM) closed on Saturday, 26 September, after five days in Bruce County, Ontario, that drew farmers, exhibitors and visitors from across the province and beyond. Plowing is still the heart of the match, but Farms.com describes it as one of Canada's largest rural showcases, mixing farm heritage, technology, education and entertainment.

In the competition, held over four days in tractor and horse-drawn classes, Gene Gruber of Richmond, Minnesota, won the Ontario Championship Tractor Conventional title and the IPM Champion Tractor Award; Brian Davenport of Owen Sound was reserve champion in both. Tom Evans of Tiverton won the Ontario Championship Tractor Reversible class, with Tor Broeckx of Dessel, Belgium, as reserve.

Carmen Ward of Grey Normanby, 21, was crowned 2026-2027 Ontario Queen of the Furrow on 25 September. A licensed funeral director who hopes to run her own farm in Grey County, she will act as ambassador for the Ontario Plowmen's Association at events across the province.

Five parades ran through the week: an opening parade for rural community leaders, a trucks and tractors parade of antique pickups, cattle liners and restored and modern machines, a children's parade, a combines parade spanning generations of harvest technology, and a closing "Bruce County Farming Through the Ages" parade from horse-drawn equipment to modern machinery.

Photo: Robert Taylor / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Source: Farms.com