The British National Ploughing Championships will return to Lincolnshire for its 69th year and event organisers are calling the show 'as popular as ever'.
As agriculture has changed over the years, the plough has changed very little.
It has been adapted for horses, for steam engines, for the ever evolving tractor and has grown from a one furrow plough to huge multi-furrows but the mouldboard which turns the soil remains.
Many farmers have moved away from ploughing over the years, preferring systems using less labour and disturbing the soil less but with the spread of weeds such as black grass, ploughing is proving to be one method of reducing it and having a good ploughman on the farm can be an advantage.
Good ploughmen – and women – can be seen at the British National Ploughing Championships.
The event, to return to Lincolnshire for its sixth ever time, has been invited back to the county by Beeswax Dyson Farming, a local agricultural business owned by Sir James Dyson.
According to show organisers Society of Ploughmen, applications are 'flooding in' for both trade exhibitors, demonstrators and ploughing entries from competitors from across Britain.
Up to 250 of the top competitors will be showing their skills with the plough and vintage tractors, modern tractors or heavy horses.
They will be striving to win the championship in their section along with the title of Supreme Champion, and some will get the chance to travel abroad to represent their country at next year’s World Ploughing Contest or European Ploughing Championships.
Sue Frith, Chief Executive of the Society of Ploughmen, said the interest and enthusiasm in British ploughing is 'fantastic'.
“We are a registered charity and have some great volunteers in Lincolnshire who can’t wait to show the rest of the country what they have to offer,” she said.
