For the second year in a row, Robin Nikkel of Ladner, British Columbia has returned north from the world’s largest farm toy show in Iowa with a championship trophy in hand.
Nikkel’s model farm display was the judges’ top pick in the large-scale (1:32) category at the Toy Farmer magazine’s 47th annual National Farm Toy Show earlier this month in Dyersville, Iowa.
This wasn’t his first brush with success at the event. In 2023, Nikkel made history as the first Canadian to win, taking the top prize in the small-scale (1:64) class.
Having grown up on a farm near Morden, Manitoba, his winning design this year features a harvest scene with a landscape evocative of southeastern Manitoba or northern Minnesota, including a river, rock formations, and trees.
Nikkel was back in southern Manitoba this past weekend, showcasing his farm at the annual Altona Farm Toy and Hobby Show. (continues below)
As he explains in the interview above, the display includes a mom delivering lunch to a harvest crew running a Case combine, with a pair of John Deere tractors out for a demo, a new Krone silage chopper being delivered, a Versatile tractor and disc doing fall fieldwork, and a sprayer going out to for some fall weed control.
The storyline that blends it all together, along with originality, creativity, and attention to detail, were all factors in earning the top score from the judges, says Nikkel.
Creating the topography and landscape from a flat styrofoam base is his favourite part of the process.
“My design is very contoured and with water features — that’s become my brand,” he says.
The level of craftsmanship and detail in his work has even fooled some Instagram followers of the “Nikkel Family Farms” account, who initially didn’t realize they were viewing photos from a toy farm.
While he didn’t keep track, Nikkel figures he invested over a thousand hours in this year’s winning creation. “It’s a piece of art,” he acknowledges.
Looking ahead, Nikkel says he’ll be taking a break from the competition in Iowa, as required by the contest’s rules.
But he already has some ideas for the next piece of art he wants to build for a possible return to the 50th annual National Farm Toy Show in three years.
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