If you haven’t yet attended the Irish National Ploughing Championships you may be forgiven for thinking that if your career doesn’t involve ploughing fields on a semi-regular basis, it’s not for you. But you couldn’t be more wrong.

The National Ploughing Championships or the ‘ploughing match’ as it is colloquially known, is now Europe’s largest outdoor event and an intrinsic part of Irish rural life. The 2019 Ploughing event takes place next week in Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co Carlow from September 17th to 19th.

The first Irish inter-county ploughing contest was held between County Wexford and County Kildare as a result of an argument between two lifelong friends, Denis Allen of Gorey, County Wexford and JJ Bergin of Athy, County Kildare. Each argued that their respective counties had the best ploughmen and so a challenge was called for. On Monday 16th of February 1931, the first National Ploughing contest took place in Mr W.K. Hosie’s field at Coursetown in Athy and since then it has expanded from its small beginnings in a field of just 26 acres to needing over 700 acres of land and accommodating 1,700 exhibitors today.

The Ploughing Championships have not just grown in size and stature, but has now extended far beyond ploughing, farming and machinery enthusiasts, to feature a huge range of attractions. There’s a massive Tented Trade Village, a Food Fair, Craft Village, Livestock, Forestry, Education, Lifestyle, Motor Show, Financial Services, Bio Energy and Agri Service. Along with this, there are many entertainment and special events taking place, including Fashion Shows, Celebrity Guests, Sheep Dog Trials, Loy Digging, All Ireland Lamb Shearing, Most Appropriately Dressed Lady & Gent Competitions, Craft Demonstrations, Meggers, Celebrity Cookery Demonstrations, Outdoor Radio Broadcasts and much more….and more. The site now requires 180 acres for ploughing, 100 acres for its trade stands and exhibition space, 400 acres of car parking and a demonstration area of approximately 25 acres, so attendance is not for the faint hearted!

The National Ploughing Championships is a fantastic event which features something for just about every member of the community. If your career is focused within agriculture or animal related industries or you’re just passionate about rural living, mark your calendar today and make the journey next week to the 2019 National Ploughing Championships.

Barbara, our Irish based recruitment consultant will be making the journey, so if you would like to meet with her for a confidential chat regarding your career planning or the recruitment needs of your business, please do get in touch to make an appointment. Simply call 01 5241929 or email [email protected].

So, don those wellies and enjoy!