It’s only when the Ploughing Championships and the Women & Agriculture Conference rolls round that I realise how fast the year has slipped by. One minute it’s April and both events are in the distant future, the next summer is over and it’s all systems go.

It’s also hard to believe that this is our seventh Women & Agriculture Conference and for this one we have moved up the country to the Royal County. If you ever wanted to visit Trim Castle, the setting for much of the film Braveheart, well now is your chance.

This year’s conference takes place on Wednesday 22 October in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim. The theme is Family Farming to fit in with the United Nations designating 2014 as the Year of Family Farming.

We have a great lineup of speakers who will cover topics such as the history of farming in Ireland, the changing role of women in farming and the attachment of siblings who leave the farm to the home place.

We will also be looking at female ownership of farms, the Macra na Feirme land mobility project and we will have expert advice on the whole area of PRSI and pensions for farm women. The winners of the FBD Family Farming competition will also be among our speakers. And that’s just the morning programme.

As usual we have our surprise acts who will get everyone on their feet. We will cover health and fitness, meet a down-to-earth social entrepreneur and have a Christmas cookery demonstration into the bargain. The full speaker list will appear in next week’s paper. Tickets cost €50 and that includes lunch and tea and pastries on arrival and during the first break.

At every conference there’s always a fine crowd who arrive the night before. I often thought it would be a nice idea to have something organised for them and so for the first time we are also offering an exciting programme for all the women who would like to travel up to Meath the evening before the conference.

This separate programme, which costs €85 per person sharing, includes dinner and bed and breakfast. I had thought of putting on various workshops but I was persuaded that all our women would want to do was sit back and relax so with that in mind Fiona Hoban will introduce you to laughter yoga.

You will also be treated to award-winning author, playwright and Irish Times columnist Michael Harding reading from his bestselling book Staring at Lakes. And if you are in the mood for a sing along or dancing, we’ll have musical entertainment to round off the evening.

We’ve always had great support for the Women & Agriculture Conference – indeed we were booked out early for the past two years in Kerry thanks to great support from our Munster readers. Now we’d love to see the same support from the other side of the country.

Tickets will start going on sale at the Ploughing Championships and you will be able to buy them online from 23 September. It’s always a great day out and if you’ve never been, now is the chance to see what you are missing.