The 150th ploughing match on the Taieri is being held near Mosgiel on Friday.
Several groups organised the event before the Taieri Ploughing Match Association was formed in 1948.
This week's event, postponed from June 4 when it was rained out, has attracted four horse-drawn ploughing teams, four with vintage tractors, 12 conventional and two reversible ploughs.
The venue is on land owned by Wallis's Nurseries and cropped for barley, at the end of Inglis St in Mosgiel.
The original aim of ploughing matches was to advance the skill of ploughing and encourage the development of ploughs to improve performance, an important goal for new settlers looking to produce more food.
Research by Taieri farming identity Allan Miller showed a meeting in 1860 called by Robert Somerville formed the Taieri A&P Society, which in October that year held the first ploughing match at the Mosgiel farm of A. J. Burns.
It attracted 39 ploughs, 28 pulled by bullock teams and the balance by horse teams.
James Cushnie, employed by Charles Todd, won.
Mr Cushnie's name lives on, with the Taieri Ploughing Match Association presenting a medal in his name.
Mr Miller said his research showed the A&P Society held annual matches until 1880, when another match called the Derby was held.
Ploughing must have been popular, because some time before 1879 the West Taieri and Maungatua Ploughing Match Committee also conducted matches, until at least 1891.
Organisers of the Derby ran their matches until 1885, on the east side of the Taieri River.
By 1896, the Taieri County Ploughing Match Committee had been formed, holding its first event at Messrs S. and W.
McLeod's Granton farm at West Taieri, attracting 14 double-furrow and and nine single-furrow ploughs, the largest field for some years.
The Taieri Ploughing Match Association was formed in 1948 and has hosted New Zealand finals in 1961, 1970, 1979 and 1994.