On Sunday afternoon, 39 photographers showed up to register for the annual Missouri Photo Workshop. Perched on the top of a hill, the Franklin County Family Resource Center will act as the official MPW headquarters this week, housing computers and equipment for the crew. At the same time, under the hot autumn sun, FFA tractor drivers took turns pulling a metal plate and train, competing for the title of largest pull.

Paula Miller sat on a red lawn chair under the canopy of a tent, watching for her daughter’s upcoming competition. Her daughter, 21-year-old Autumn Miller, has been participating in tractor pulls since 2018.

“We have a sled down there, there’s a metal plate and a train from six inches to a foot long, and you hook them all by classes,” Autumn Miller said. “My tractor weighs 5,550 pounds. For the next class, we add 500 more pounds. Every class they add however much weight to get to the next class.”

The FFA Annual Tractor Pull divides the tractors into separate classes, with some weights amassing over 9,000 pounds.

Although Miller has about six years of experience, she said she is still nervous.

“I did engine work to my tractor and haven’t driven it since then, so I’m scared,” Miller said.

The tractor contest, which lasted from noon to 4 p.m, closely matched the anticipation of MPW registration, which was right up the hill and ironically runs at the exact same time.

Photographer Ireland Hayes traveled to Union from Virginia, but originally is from a smaller town in Georgia, so tractor pulls don’t surprise her. Hayes attended the annual barbecue fundraiser for FFA in Union this morning and is interested in agriculture storytelling.

Another photographer, Eric Lee, flew here from Washington, D.C., and began taking pictures of the tractor contest once he got to Union.

“The more that I think about that, that’s 9,000 pounds of food,” Lee said. “I’m an urban boy myself, you know, don’t really question where food comes from or even how it’s transported.”

Dirt tracked up from the field as tractors new and old trudged the metal plates along. FFA competitor Adam Bolzenyus placed third in his class with 3,355 pounds on the back of his John Deere Beat.

As photographers posed for their headshots, families of tractor drivers anxiously waited on the bleachers, watching on the scoreboard for their scores to be announced.