The sun has set through showers and rainbows on Ploughing 2016. Each year it is a calendar marker for farmers. There are jobs that need to be completed before the Ploughing and a list for after the event. The Tullamore site was packed with stands and equalled other years for organisation and traffic management. There were good and bad experiences.

There is a huge challenge to keeping the Ploughing Championships interesting – streets of marquees, some of them ginormous, unfold. All of them wanting to feed off our farming industry. It does send a shiver down the spine.

One look at our producer prices should send them all packing home again. It becomes quite obvious that it’s those that are adding value to their produce that make the money. Still, the Ploughing Championships gives an injection of positivity to our livelihoods and a great image of the importance of agriculture to the economy.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Apart from catching up with friends, the event allows us to see and hear what our farming bodies, agencies and organisations are doing for us. It also affords us the chance to do business and face-to-face networking.

We cannot let communication become one big twittering, social media machine. There is nothing to equal a good chat.

For us in the Irish Farmers Journal, it was a pleasure to meet our readers and to hear valuable comments. Several expressed the thought of feeling good and happy to be at the ploughing. This was probably because of our recent focus on mental health issues in Irish Country Living. It is so important to feel good for today. The tide will turn and before we know it we’ll be off to Ploughing 2017.

Families piled into chat with us and to see Neven Maguire cooking up his magic. As always, the Cavan man cooked delicious and effective recipes. Geraldine Haran and her daughter Ivanna won the chance to eat at Neven’s chef table. Geraldine invited Diarmuid to join them. He was just thrilled.

A BIT OF HISTORY

In our back room, three Grogan brothers were reminiscing. John, formerly of the Irish Farmers Journal, Al, formerly Dept of Ag and Padraig, who is still farming, were grabbing a welcome cuppa. Padraig was livestock coordinator for the Ploughing and the three men were “throwing around straw through the night” – their words, not mine. Interestingly, they felt very connected to the site.

Their grandfather, Joe Grogan, bought the farm from the Briscoes and though there were changes through the years, Joe Grogan, their first cousin, now owns what John referred to “as the hub of the 2016 Ploughing Championships”. Irish life is all about connections.

MY WHISTLE -sTOP TOUR

It is impossible to get around all the stands. Everyone’s Ploughing experience is different. Comments overheard walking around provide some insights: “There’s some gear here boy” – and he wasn’t wrong. There were machines and equipment as far as the eye could see, creating a vibrant colour wheel that wrapped around a whole section of the site.

Then there was the mother: “Now, you’ve lost it. You’ve learned a valuable lesson. You must mind your things. It’s your own fault.”

The boy, about 12, almost crying, retorted: “It’s your fault anyway for all the rushing this morning.” I wanted badly to wait and listen but I kept going.

Lots of secondary school students were there.

“What I’d like is no teachers, that would be awesome,” says one to another school group. A girl replied: “Well our two are not really teachers, they’re only 26!”

Then there was Daddy coming away from the ice-cream van: “Four ice-creams, 13 f……euro!” It was going to be an expensive day for him.

INNOVATIONS

I try to find new things at the Ploughing, that’s what changes the scene from year to year. In 2006 we had the start of the massive property tent that faded away as the recession deepened. This year I was struck by another huge tent, this time a two-storey one that left me wondering.

It belonged to a supermarket. Is this a sign of power? Is the battle of the biggest and the most influential retail stand among themselves or is it a display of control over farmers? I felt uneasy.

Sameness is boring, so to get away from the regulars I visited the innovation tent and I wasn’t disappointed. There I found a healthy treat that was low in sugar, in four different flavours, including apple and mint! Don’t get too excited – it’s for horses and just shows how sophisticated we have become. It’s the brainchild of Richard Lynch and Avril Kearney at Nutribio. It’s being marketed all over Europe.

Then it was on to UCD where they are doing serious research into the matrix-effect of dairy foods. They are finding that cheese may not increase your bad cholesterol and can increase your good cholesterol. In order to complete the study, they need volunteers who are healthy, over 50 and have a BMI over 25. I’ve signed up and if you want to do so email cheesestudy@ucd.ie.

James from Herdwatch, part of Farm Relief Services, took me through the Herdwatch App. They seem to have cracked the knowledge transfer from farmyard to farm computer. The app can be on a number of phones and the information on animals or crops is updated to all of them once you’re connected to the internet. It sounds just the thing for busy farmers who may not always be in the yard together. I want it!

That’s the trouble with the Ploughing, though. We always come home with a new wish list. Still it was great to meet all you friends and readers.

Until next year, keep well and keep reading!