Nothing says agriculture more than a tractor - just ask the hundreds of people who clambered to watch some of the region's oldest machines compete at the Rotary FNQ Field Days this week.
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The tractor pull has become an iconic event at the three-day agricultural extravaganza, a biennial event that this year attracted 500 sites - an event record - and just over 15,000 people through the gate.
When the tractors took to the 120m track - in the 30 horsepower to 100 HP category, or 100 HP to 200 HP section - in the Brown and Hurley Agriculture Tractor Pull, it was standing room only.
The machines on show were often the result of painstaking restoration, a labour of love by tractor enthusiasts and former and current farmers from across the Far North Queensland and as far south as Mackay.
Like the 1951 M4 Nuffield tractor - one of the oldest on show - used on an Edmonton cane farm by Milton Hardwick's family, before being put to work at Kaban near Ravenshoe.
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The event took on extra meaning this year, with the Jeff Snelling Memorial Shield People's Choice Award in honour of member, the late Jeff Snelling, who tragically drowned at Tinaroo Dam in February.
The inaugural winner was Tony Atherton for his Fordson Major.
The other big winner was Bill Phillips and his Fowler VFA Crawler for best overall pull of the competition.
In stark comparison were demonstrations of an autonomous tractor in the main arena - a glimpse of what's to come in agriculture.
While the horsepower of the bygone era and future put on a show, big, glossy state-of-the art machines changed hands in the exhibition area, where suppliers of leading agricultural equipment lined up to make the most of the crowds.
An excited and relieved Rotary FNQ Field Days Committee chair, Kevin Davies, described the event as "absolutely exceptional".
He said happy exhibitors and record crowds made a ton of hard work worthwhile.
He praised the various stakeholders - the organising committee, volunteers, strategic partners, sponsors, exhibitors and the community - for contributing to the event's success.
Monies raised from the three-day event goes back to benefactor charities in Atherton and Mareeba.
