The Loy Association of Ireland was founded in 1992 with the aims to foster the tradition of using the loy to turn the sod, let people know the sort of spade that was used before the introduction of the factory spade in 1750, show young people and future generations how food was produced in the past, hold competitions in Loy digging to demonstrate the skill involved in this ancient art and popularise Loy digging across the 32 Counties of Ireland.