Young plowman finds gold at plowing matches

Catherine Reynolds | Aug 16, 2017

Hunter Chown is a modest young man with a bold plan.
Speaking from his house on Wolfe Island, the 18-year-old hopes to outplow some of the best farmers in the country and win the upcoming International Plowing Match (IPM).
It’s an ambitious plan that might just work.
A five-time winner of his junior class at past IPMs, Chown just won his adult division (two-furrow conventional plow) and Best Land Overall at the Frontenac County Plowing Match in Battersea last Saturday.
“It was a good day,” Chown says with a smile.

Using a 1968 plow and a 1967 David Brown tractor, Chown caught the attention of the judges with his straight and even furrows.
“You have to maintain a constant depth,” he explains.
“The furrow also has to be even and level. You have to be careful with your ins and outs and watch how you change the soil from one end to another.”
“It’s expensive, but it’s a lot of fun,” says the teenager when asked what he likes about plowing.
“I don’t know, honestly. I just find it really interesting. It’s hard, but fun.”
Trained by his grandfather, Dennis Mosier, Chown has spent hundreds of hours turning the neighbour’s soil on Wolfe Island to plant soya beans and corn.
“I do a lot of plowing to practice for the IPM in September,” he says earnestly.

The eldest of four brothers, Chown credits his grandfather for giving him the skills needed to compete on the world stage.
Mosier is the former operator of a dairy farm on Wolfe Island and a qualified judge of plowing matches.
“He’s done a lot. He’s spent a lot of time with me,” says Chown with gratitude. “It helps that he’s a judge. I can see what they’re looking for and fix it.”
Excited about the upcoming match in Walton, in the Township of East Huron, Chown is also looking forward to starting a Civil Engineering Course this fall at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. Prize money from previous matches has helped pay for his education. If he wins at the IPM again this year, he will earn a trophy and money he can apply to school.
It’s a golden prize for a young man with a bright future who is becoming the pride of Frontenac County.

“Hunter has been plowing with his grandfather for years,” says Martin Oomen, President of the Frontenac County Plowmen’s Association, the volunteer group that hosted last Saturday’s match.
“He’s a good plowman, good sport and talented young man,” says the president.. “We wish him the best of luck, blue skies and good plowing at the IPM.”
Smiling at the thought of plowing in the rain, Chown notes with good humour, “It’s not my first time getting soaked.”