Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has welcomed competitors from around the globe for the World Ploughing Contest, which is taking place concurrently with the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois, this week.
The National Ploughing Championships will take place from September 20 to 22 with 300,000 people expected to attend.
The World Ploughing Contest, meanwhile, will see competitors from over 25 different countries descend on Ratheniska, including India, Uganda, Ghana, New Zealand and Germany.
The World Ploughing Contest was due to take place in Russia this year. However, due to that country’s invasion of Ukraine, a new host country had to be found.
The National Ploughing Association (NPA) took on the challenge of staging of the World Contest at short notice.
Minister McConalogue paid tribute to the NPA for ensuring that the 67th running of the competition could take place.
“I commend the work of Anna May and Anna Marie McHugh for acting swiftly to ensure the World Ploughing Contest could take place by bringing it to Ireland. It has been a huge logistical challenge putting it all in place but I know it will be a success,” he said.
The minister also confirmed that his department has been engaging with the NPA to provide support in bringing the World Ploughing Contest to Ireland.
“Ploughing is an art and a skill that is celebrated across the world but we do it better than anyone. That’s why it’s great to see that the Ploughing is coming home” Minister McConalogue said.
He added: “I have approved, in principle, a financial support package to help the NPA with the running of the ‘Worlds’.”
“I again commend the work of the NPA and wish everyone a great week in Laois,” the minister commented.
You can catch all the action from the 2022 National Ploughing Championships through the Agriland livestream, which gets underway from 12:00p.m on each of the three days.