71,800 people have attended the second day today (Wednesday, September 20) of the 2023 National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois.
This is an increase on day one of the event yesterday, when 66,250 people attended.
Agriland is the official livestream partner for Ploughing 2023 and in association with UPMC, broadcasts each day of the Ploughing from the Agriland pavilion at Stand 305 between 12:00p.m and 4:00p.m.
Today’s livestream featured a wide range of discussions.
The coverage got underway with a panel discussion between Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher, Green Party MEP Grace O’ Sullivan, and Independent TD Carol Nolan.
Then, from 12:30p.m, we had a panel discussion with online agri influencers, including digital content creator Sophie Bell, former Macra president Thomas Duffy, and presenter and TikToker Katie Shanahan.
At 1:00p.m, we brought you the first debate between the candidates for deputy president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, ahead of the association’s elections later in the year.
The two candidates are Alice Doyle and Pat Murphy, and they both set out their stalls for the role of IFA deputy president on Agriland’s livestream.
After that, Agriland journalist Aisling O’Brien sat down one-on-one with Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Pippa Hackett at 1:30p.m.
At 2:00p.m, Agriland journalist Richard Halleron took to the stage for a special tillage-centric panel with Shay Phelan, Teagasc and Kieran McEvoy, IFA tillage chair.
The next panel discussion, at 2:30p.m, featured Jack Nolan, senior inspector at DAFM, Grace Maher, Irish Organic Association (IOA) and organic farmer Kevin O’Hanlon.
At 3:00p.m, a special farm safety, health and well-being panel got underway with David Rowsome, UPMC physiotherapist, Pat Griffin, Health and Safety Authority (HSA), and a representative from Pieta.
Agriland editor Stella Meehan took to the stage at 3:30p.m for the final panel of the day which focussed on women in farming. She was joined by Sandra Hayes from Teagasc, Ciara Lynch from Women in Dairy, and Paula Fitzsimons, ACORNS.