Agriland Media Group is partnering with the National Ploughing Association (NPA) as the official livestream partner for the National and World Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois this week.

Agriland will host a livestream each of the three days of the Ploughing from 12:00p.m to 4:00p.m in association with Lely and FBD, in association with the NPA.

During that time there will be live discussions, debates and interviews in the Agriland pavilion (located Block 3, Row 15, Stall 255), which is open to the public, right in the centre of the Ploughing site.

The Agriland team will also bring the livestream audience out and about across the entire event, showcasing everything from the ploughing competitions, livestock, machinery and all aspects of agriculture and rural life.

Each day the livestream will focus on different themes as part of Agriland’s Ploughing coverage which will be streamed on the Agriland website, Facebook and YouTube channel.

Day 1:

Machinery (12:00p.m – 2:00p.m);

Livestock (2:00p.m – 4:00p.m).

Day 2:

Environment and sustainability (12:00p.m. – 2:00p.m);

Ploughing competitions / tillage (2:00p.m – 4:00p.m).

Day 3:

Health and safety / farmer wellbeing (12:00p.m – 2:00p.m);

AgTech (2:00p.m – 4:00p.m).

The livestream will be available on the Agriland platform each day at noon, and will also be streamed via Facebook live. Many interviews will also be available on the Agriland YouTube channel daily.

So what should you watch out for?

Ploughing livestream schedule

Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 20), our coverage will kick off at 12:00p.m with a panel discussion with three farm leaders: Tim Cullinan, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA); Pat McCormack, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA); and Dermot Kelleher, president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).

Following that, at 12:30p.m, we will have a machinery-themed discussion with Michael Farrelly, executive director of the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA); Frank Flynn from Redrock Machinery; and Agriland machinery specialist Justin Roberts.

At 1:00p.m Agriland will speak with Niall McGauran from Lely, before moving away from the machinery theme to bring you a political panel with MEP Colm Markey, TD Michael Healy-Rae, and TD Jackie Cahill.

From 2:00p.m and 2:30p.m respectively, we will be speaking with interim Bord Bia CEO Michael Murphy and director of Teagasc, Prof. Frank O’Mara.

Also tomorrow afternoon, Agriland will have a sit-down discussion with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Charlie McConalogue.

Tuesday’s livestream will conclude with a panel discussion involving Agriland editor, Stella Meehan; Sean McNamara, sheep chairperson of the ICSA; Kevin Comiskey, sheep chairperson of the IFA, and Agriland sheep specialist Michael Geary.

Wednesday

Starting again from 12:00p.m, our first panel of the day will feature the head of dairy knowledge transfer at Teagasc, Joe Patton; dairy farmer Mark Collins; and Agriland dairy specialist Brian McDonnell.

From 12:30pm, Agriland will be speaking with Minister of State for new market development, farm safety and research and development Martin Heydon; before speaking with Anna May McHugh, managing director of the NPA.

At 1:30p.m Agriland will bring you a panel with Barry Caslin, energy and rural development specialist with Teagasc; and Pat Smith, chairperson of the Micro-Renewable Energy Federation (MREF).

Then at 2:00p.m, Agriland will be joined by Minister of State for land use and biodiversity Pippa Hackett in the Agriland pavilion.

At 2:45p.m Agriland will have an interview with Eddie Punch, general secretary of the ICSA.

Following that, we will bring you a discussion with Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a professor and air quality specialist in the Department of Animal Science at University California (UC) Davis, who believes that the current way methane is assessed for agriculture is not accurate.

Closing out the livestream for Wednesday, we will have a panel with James Sutton, president of the NPA; and Agriland’s Richard Halloren.

Thursday

Our coverage on Thursday will begin with a farm safety-themed panel at 12:00p.m featuring Teagasc health and safety specialist John McNamara, and senior inspector with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) Pat Griffin.

This will be followed by a panel at 12:30p.m featuring Alice Doyle, the IFA’s farm family and social affairs chairperson, and Dr. Michael Hayden, assistant professor of accounting at Maynooth University.

Then from 1:00p.m, in a rural crime-themed panel, we will speak to Barry Carey, who leads the IFA’s Crime Prevention Office; as well as Garda Sgt. Graham Kavanagh.

At 1:30p.m we will have a sit down with Macra na Feirme president John Keane, followed by a panel with Padraig Hennessy from AgTech Ireland and Kieran O’Donoghue from Agritech Ireland Cluster.

These are just a small sample of the interviews which will take place in the Agriland Pavilion, however there will be dozens more interviews from our team of roving reporters from all across the ploughing site, involving machinery manufacturers, societies, ploughing contestants, farm and rural life features, health and safety, innovation on agriculture and agtech.

Our livestream will kick off at 12:00p.m tomorrow and bring you all the action from The National Ploughing Championships 2022.