A total of 102,500 people attended the first day of the 2019 National Ploughing Championships, the National Ploughing Association (NPA) has confirmed.
This is substantially up on the 97,500 attendees that attended day one of last year’s ‘Ploughing’.
Fine weather and a pleasant day well suited to exploring the bustling site in Carlow played a role in crowds attending in throngs, with people understood to have been arriving at the site well into the afternoon today, Tuesday, September 17.
The 88th National Ploughing Championships was opened earlier today by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.
The national president told attendees at ‘Ploughing 2019’ that “family farms are entitled to a fair return from what they produce”.
Continuing, the president said: “I welcome the public discussion on what is a fair share of return between producer, processor, retailer and consumer.
All of our wishes go out to those who want to see a future for the family farm and I do wish those who are trying to solve things every success.
Continuing, President Higgins said: “One word of advice from someone with my experience to simply say if it can’t be solved by what’s on offer – it’s a beginning and beginnings are important.”