At 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day of every Western Canada Farm Progress Show, most people stop in their tracks.
Few can ignore the parade of antique tractors and trucks as it winds its way through the displays of millions of dollars worth of shiny, state-of-the-art equipment and technology.
Similarly, the antique tractor pulls attract enthusiastic crowds each afternoon.
Visitors might be awed by the price tag on a new combine or air drill, but the work that has gone into a painstaking restoration is appreciated differently.
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Maybe it’s the sense of pride emanating from the drivers, many of them grey-haired, some with grandchildren or perhaps great-grandchildren riding shotgun.
They smile and wave to the crowd. The sheer pleasure they get from showing off what they’ve accomplished can’t help but make those watching respond in kind.
Maybe it’s the ‘how did they do it’ factor – the idea of actually farming with tractors and implements that look miniature compared to today’s models. Granted, farms were smaller, but it’s hard to imagine working the land with some of the smaller tractors in the parade.
Still, the pre-1960 tractors look ready to head into the field for a long day’s work.
Maybe it’s simple nostalgia. We have an attachment to the past, and why not celebrate it? After all, without it there would be no progress.
There is never a lack of progress in farm equipment and technology.
From earliest days, farmers were the inventors and builders of devices that could make their lives and businesses easier and more efficient.
Horses gave way to tractors and threshing machines to combines.
Equipment manufacturing grew into a huge industry that has seen such key comfort innovations as tractor cabs and air conditioning, and key technological developments such as global positioning systems and autosteering.
The first Western Canada Farm Progress Show was held in Regina in 1978 so farm equipment manufacturers could display their newest products.
But innovation also hasn’t moved that far off the farm, as evidenced by many of the 40 new inventions displayed at last week’s show.
Some might wonder about devoting three barns worth of space to antiques at an event designed to highlight the newest and most modern machinery.
The juxtaposition only confirms that agriculture continues to move forward.
Who knows? Someday a 2006 model tractor could be leading the parade.
