The Rural Voice, 2004-09, Page 40Party
hosts
For the Davison
family, being host
farm for the tented
city has meant
slowly -building
excitement
Story and photos by
Janice Becker
For Scott and Tracy Davison,
hosts of the 2004 International
Plowing Match and Rural
Expo, near Meaford in Grey County,
the lead -up to the opening of the
major five-day event has been
relatively subdued. However, as mid-
August rolled around, they were
rapidly seeing that change.
"We attended the plowing match
in Ottawa when (the Grey County
Plowmen's Association) made the
bid for the match," says Tracy.
"When we met the couple who were
the hosts, the wife pulled me aside.
She told me not to get involved in
any of the committees. You will be
busier that you would ever dream."
Tracy has kept that as her motto
throughout the run-up to Rural Expo
2004 and she and Scott are both glad
they held back a little.
Scott, born and raised near
Meaford, returned to farm in the area
after university and a job with the
Ministry of Agriculture and Food. He
laughs when he talks about deciding
to be a farmer, considering the trials
of the industry in recent years.
Aside from running a feedlot and
cash crop operation, and with Tracy
working full-time, the family began
operating an elevator a few years
ago.
"When we first began with the
elevator, we used to bring grain in
from other areas to fill it at the end of
the season. Now, this area alone fills
it," says Scott.
This tells the tale of a region in
which dairy and beef producers once
dominated the farm landscape.
36 THE RURAL VOICE
Tracy and Scott Davison and their son Jeremy will see thousands visit their
farm in September. Already by early August hydro poles were planted in
fields (below) as the hay came off.
However, as change swept through
the sector, more and more farmers
began moving to cash crops, he says.
Recent hardships in the beef industry
have also brought back images of the
1980c when interests rates devastated
many farming communities.
"A neighbour told me he saw
something at a farm auction that he
hadn't seen in years. The farmers
there were actually writing down the
prices that things were going for, as
if taking inventory for themselves,"
says Scott.
The Davisons also expect to see
that change in the landscape reflected
in the diversity of those attending the
IPM.
With many rural properties being
sold to urbanites, the couple foresees
a far greater attendance by non -
farmers than at past IPMs.
However, Tracy still sees the IPM
as a place for farmers to meet and
talk, a place to get away from the
stress of their business for a while.
"It will not make a huge change in
anyone's life, but it will give them a
chance to forget about things for a
few days. Farmers are at their best
when they can get together and chew
the fat," she laughs.
For their part, the Davisons were
just beginning to make their
preparations for the event in early
August. Other than seeding a lot of
land in hay, Scott says he has
generally been a consultant, so far.
The land on which the plowing
match will take place is not
unaccustomed to such undertakings.
The same farm, then owned by John
and Velma Lowe, was home to the
IPM in 1987.
When the Grey County
Plowmen's Association embarked on