Plowing as a competition has been a tradition at the Howell Living History Farm for 37 years.
The annual plowing match in Hopewell Township returned on Sept. 5. The match marks the beginning of a crop production cycle that is set to take 10 months with the land being sown with winter wheat in late September.
The competition began in 1984 and is designed to test the farmers and their horses.
Each farmer and their horse team plow in a section of land on the farm, where they are judged in areas that include depth, coverage and evenness. The competition is a way to preserve a method of plowing from the 20th century and work up the soil on the farm where wheat will be planted.