Of plows and men

The Loire-Atlantique is an estuary turned to the ocean and driven by the river, but it is also known for the diversity and dynamism of its agricultural productions (cultivations, cattle farming, wine growing…) that derive from ancient techniques.

They appear in a surprisingly strong form through a large number of initiatives aimed at preserving the memory and the material traces of these activities and practices. Ten collections (private, associative, municipal or inter-municipal) showcase a large number of objects all over the department and illustrate the evolution of agricultural tools.

Symbolic objects of the agricultural techniques’ history, at least 300 plows are kept in Loire-Atlantique to tell the story of animal drawn and tractor drawn production…

Moreover, the city of Châteaubriant has been known for several centuries for its metallurgic activities and thus has developed in the 20^th century its own production of agricultural tools; so much so that, thanks to the Huard Company located in the city, it has earned the nickname of the “capital of plows”.

In Châteaubriant, the plow is the way inside the history and the development of agriculture in the department. It helps establish a link between the various agricultural museums in Loire-Atlantique while at the same time encouraging scientific activities within these establishments (transversal inventory of the collections, documentation, putting in perspective, collecting testimonials…)

An unusual and dynamic presentation to explore the world of agricultural tools…

The exhibition “Of plows and men” was designed by the Atelier des Charrons, a programming and designing agency based in Saint-Etienne (42) and known for its quality work. The exhibition starts outside the château, with a presentation of contemporary plows with 5, 6 or 7 shares that were made by the Kuhn factory in Châteaubriant.

A red furrow – incidentally, the color of the Kuhn factory – leads the visitors through the château’s courtyard to the Renaissance staircase that takes them to the exhibition hall.

Following this red thread, the exhibition is divided into four parts that help visitors relate to the objects by presenting plows and portraits together.

Landscapes, farmers and collectors are photographed by Guy Hersant, a professional photographer who has made a name for himself in the agricultural world. These photographs are found all throughout the exhibition and create a maze where various stories and points of views on the plow are mixed together…

1- Working the land

Since people have become sedentary, the evolution of the ard and the plow tell the story of agriculture. Plowed lands change landscapes according to the seasons… It is a surprisingly complex task that requires good technique and precision…

2- Anatomy of a plow

There are as many plows as there are farmers, crops, lands and techniques… The plow is a very complex tool that takes many different forms: balance plow, reversible plow, riding plow… some experimental shapes can in fact be surprising. Beams, hitches, moldboards, cylindrical or spiral shares, each element of the plow illustrates its various functions.

3- Châteaubriant, capital of the plow

Already long known for its metallurgic production, Châteaubriant – thanks to the Huard factories – became the “capital of the plow”… Nowadays, the Kuhn factory continues to build new plows, just outside the city and produces advanced agricultural tools that make it a leader on the European market.

4- Plows from here and there, then and now

From the diversity of the Loire-Atlantique landscapes to the disparity of the agricultural realities in the world, through portraits of farmers and collectors, furrows and plowing techniques are full of symbolisms, tell stories, start debates and raise questions…

Forty plows in the castle...
Some sit on pedestals that magnify them, others are hung on walls to show the details of their anatomy, others still hide in the topiaries of the French formal gardens of the château…
Located in the heart of the city, the monument that combines the strength of a medieval fortress and the charms of the Renaissance architecture probably never expected to host an exhibition featuring so many agricultural tools…
But in fact, incorporating the plows within the château was an essential part of the exhibition. The designers used the architecture of the monument and developed a sort of relationship between the agricultural tools and the walls that tell so many stories of the unification of Brittany and France…
That is how they have created links between the Guards’ building and the shed built in the Renaissance courtyard to exhibit the tractors that could not be taken up to the first floor of the building, built between the 15th and the 16th century. During the eighteen months of the exhibition, right at the entrance of the keep – which began to be built in the 11th century – there will be plowing demonstrations.
The departmental château de Châteaubriant has been the property of the General Council of Loire-Atlantique since 1853 and as such, it has been home to several administrative branches and services for the inhabitants of Châteaubriant. It has also welcomed visitors that have come to discover this major monument of the Marches of Brittany.
Since 2001, the Department of Loire-Atlantique has developed a policy to promote our heritage as well as restore the medieval parts of the site.
These projects are part of the department’s will to develop the tourist and cultural offer of the territory through educational activities, visits, temporary exhibitions and animations. They all aim at humanizing our History through the stories of its people…
… for a bigger exhibition
Since the Neolithic revolution, men get most of their food from cultivated crops. The natural fertility of the land meets the farmer’s hard work to produce food for humanity. The combination of metallurgy and agriculture allowed workers to trade their old wooden tools for plows made of iron and later of steel.
From digging sticks to the most recent invention of computer-guided multi-furrow plows, we have come a long way! But only our over equipped farmers have come so far. Indeed, the majority of the agricultural world today still relies on animal-drawn plowing for their work – a major improvement already, considering the manual work needed at the beginning of agriculture.
Thus, the material basis for our civilization is born out of our farmers’ gestures. And in fact, very few texts focus on that question, except for an old book by Haudricourt (1). If today’s modern techniques are examined by most specialists, traditional methods are still largely ignored by researchers.
Our knowledge of ancient techniques, of the geographical repartition of old plows, of the various crop rotation techniques, of the kind of changes that occurred in the past and their frequency is still very incomplete and first-hand accounts by old farmers disappear without ever being heard.
There is however, in Loire-Atlantique, a fondness for collections of ancient agricultural tools – we know of at least ten in the department. One can thus applaud the General Council’s initiative to organize a large exhibition dedicated to plows and to hold it for eighteen months at the departmental château de Châteaubriant…

René Bourrigaud

Lecturer at the University of Nantes

Author of a thesis on the agricultural development in Loire-Atlantique in the 19th century Member of the International Center for Farming and Rural Culture (Treffieux)

(1) André Haudricourt et Mariel J.-Brunhes Delamarre, L'homme et la charrue à travers le monde, première édition en 1955, réédition en 1986, éd. La manufacture, Lyon, 410 p.

Conception of the exhibition :
Élisabeth Loir-Mongazon, departmental curator
Nina Guiraud, officer at the Direction de la culture DGAD Développement Conseil général de Loire-Atlantique
Texts and historical validations
René Bourrigaud, University of Nantes
François Sigaut, EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences), Paris
Scenography team
Atelier des Charrons - Saint-Étienne (42)
Photographer
Guy Hersant
With the collaboration, in Loire-Atlantique, of:
• the musée agri-rétro in Abbaretz
• the musée intercommunal des marais salants in Batz-sur-mer
• the musée du vignoble nantais in Pallet
• the Regional Nature Park of Brière
• the association Outils et traditions of Saint-Aignan-de-Grand-Lieu
• the conservatoire des vieux métiers in Saint-Père-en-Retz
• the musée au siècle passé in Teillé
• the maison du paysan in Touvois
• the CICPR (International Center for Farming and Rural Culture) in Treffieux
With the participation of :
• the departmental Thomas Dobrée museum and the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany museum in Nantes
• the Ancenis and Fercé City Halls
• the National Museum of Arts and Crafts
• and the sultanate of Oman
With the support of
• the Chamber of Agriculture in Loire-Atlantique
• and the Ministry of Culture