This year’s Scottish Ploughing Championships will be held in Ayrshire for the second time ever in its 59-year history.
The event, which takes place on Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28 at Monktonhill Farm, Prestwick, Ayrshire, will feature stands and activities as well as an educational area, run by the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET), for children.
Director of the Scottish Ploughing Championships management committee, Hugh Currie, said:
“We are very grateful to the owners of Monktonhill Farm for allowing us the space to host this year. Ayrshire is traditionally a livestock area and so it’s superb to find such a top-quality arable farm keen to work with us.”
Scottish Ploughing Championships
For this year’s Scottish Ploughing Championships, event organisers have said a ploughman will be coming out of retirement.
“For 2023, one of the best ploughers in the world, Andrew Mitchell Snr., is coming out of retirement and competing at Monktonhill Farm and so competitors are gearing up for a tight contest,” event organisers said.
“Mr. Mitchell has rarely been beaten on home soil and a number of competitors are keen to give him a run for his money.
“Winners of certain classes also get the opportunity to compete at the World Ploughing Championships in Estonia in 2024 and so there is much to plough for,” they said.
Currie said this year’s event has “17 different classes which include small tractors, vintage ploughs, horses and the chance for young people to get involved and compete.”
“We also have competitors from all four nations this year, for the first time in a while, so it’s great to have some nationwide competition. Ploughing is highly competitive and it isn’t easy,” he stressed.
“The best way to explain good ploughing to a non plougher would be that you’re aiming for the ground to look like corduroy – dead straight, all the same, nice and even and dead level.
“Each competitor hones his or her equipment like a Formula 1 racing car and it really is a case of marginal gains – combined with a bit of luck.”
‘A great day out’
Currie said the Scottish Ploughing Championships are a great day out for farming and non-farming people and families.
“We have vintage machinery, three pairs of horses coming along to do a demonstration, trade stands, food stalls, craft stalls and lots to see and do,” he said.
“It’s a great fun day with the chance to meet old and new friends and socialise. There is also a farm shop on site for those wishing to stock up on local produce.
“The championships have also paired up with RHET, the Royal Highland Education Trust, with four schools visiting on the Friday and a classroom on wheels open on the Saturday for children and families to pop in and learn more about food, farming, and ploughing of course.”
