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The Ploughing is kind of like a pilgrimage. Almost 300,000 people trek over three days from all across Ireland to be part of it.
The Pope found it hard to attract these crowds. So what is it that makes people want to get up at 5am to drive across Ireland to plough through the mud in the wind and rain every September?
A quick calculation suggests to visit each of the 1,700 stands in a 10-hour day would mean spending less than three minutes on each stand. And this is what people do – they shuffle up and down on the galvanised trackways as if they are in one giant outdoor shopping centre, momentarily stopping at stands while hoping to bump into a neighbour they haven’t seen since the Ploughing last year.
Calendar
The Ploughing is always a good bookend to the farming calendar year – one that many would be glad to see the end of this year. Usually the harvest is saved, grass growth is slowed and thoughts return to housing animals.
It really marks the end of summer and that we are firmly in autumn. So it is always a good barometer as to how farmers and agriculture have done over the year.
This year, the mood was mixed but the weather didn’t seem to dampen spirits too much. Tillage farmers had poor yields but stronger prices were helping. Dairy farmers had higher costs, but yields and milk price held up, especially in the later summer months. For beef farmers it seemed to be more difficult.
Agribusiness
It is always interesting to see which agribusinesses are out in force each year. Ten years ago, we all remember the giant property pavilions that dwarfed the agri-sector stands with their off-plan investments in countries as far flung as Bulgaria.
But those days are long gone and replaced by other giant structures today. It is interesting now to see the supermarkets with some of the largest marquees and sheds proclaiming their love for Irish farmers and Irish produce.
Enterprise
By far the stand-out at this year’s tented village was the two-storey Enterprise Ireland stand which was home to the Innovation Arena. It dominated the Ploughing skyline, perhaps illustrating the semi-state body’s healthier budget in recent years.
But it wasn’t the only semi-state body present. Surprisingly, Bus Éireann and Irish Rail both had stands at the agricultural event. Even more surprising was to see the Central Bank along with a swath of government departments including agriculture, environment, finance, housing, employment, communications, culture, business and rural development. A sign of improved times and budgets for the government agencies.
Absence
There was noticeable absence of some of the private independent merchants who operate in the area. This would suggest they didn’t see any benefit from the investment or maybe more likely, had a very strong year of feed sales, and are now more anxious about money collection than selling more into already stretched accounts.
So if cash is tighter on farms, surely the banks were out in force hoping to develop some new business? Not so. Among the three main banks focused on agriculture, Ulster Bank was absent again (it’s been a number of years since they took a stand), AIB was strategically located in the machinery section as usual with its popular shed talks, while Bank of Ireland had a visibly reduced footprint, perhaps reflecting the changed senior executive team which may be now more focused on alternative ways of building their farmer business.
Insurers
While FBD, as key a partner to the NPA, had its usual prominent position at this year’s Ploughing, it was very noticeable that competing insurers AXA and Zurich significantly upped their presence in Screggan. Both insurers has sizeable displays and people at this year’s Ploughing, underlining their intentions to move further into the agricultural insurance space to gain market share.
One of the big surprise stands at this year’s ploughing was Bayer – the company that has taken over Monsanto and its Roundup brand recently. While it was focusing on its health and pharma divisions, it did have its crop science division out in full force explaining advances in technology coming down the road.
Motors
Of course the motor displays seem to be growing back to boom times and now dwarf many of the machinery stands nearby with many of the cars on display more dreams of many farmers than their wheels of choice.
While there was plenty for machinery enthusiasts, they might have missed a few of the big name brands such as Claas and John Deere.
Cookery demonstrations seem to be the thing at this year’s Ploughing – maybe following in the footsteps of Neven. Not only did the National Dairy Council have Mary Berry, FBD started cooking with Catherine Fulvio while Rachel Allen demonstrated that cooking and owning a Land Rover go hand in hand.
Different
Overall, it was a different Ploughing. The first day was strong but it was hard to see the crowd in the numbers quoted over the following days. No doubt it was a difficult decision for organisers to close on the Wednesday and as difficult for the exhibitors and agribusinesses who had invested hugely to display their wares.
The Thursday felt like the last day of the Ploughing but exhibitors were faced with doing it all again for the additional day on the Friday. There was a huge additional cost to adding another day for exhibitors on top of no footfall for Wednesday – traditionally the busiest day. Some were faced with no choice but to shut up shop on the Thursday and turn for home as alternative plans had been made.
Is it sustainable in its current format of temporary structures in a temporary field travelling around the country every few years?
Tullamore and Screggan will definitely be remembered. However, it raises many issues as to the risks associated with running an outdoor event at the end of September. Have we reached peak ploughing and is it sustainable in its current format of temporary structures in a temporary field travelling around the country every few years?
The NPA has acknowledged it would be easier for them with a permanent site. The answer is not easy.
No doubt, it has come a very long way since the first event was held in a field outside Athy in 1931. The second year it attracted 3,000 people. Back then it was a Ploughing event. Today it is kind of like a Rose of Tralee – you either love it or hate it, but everyone feels compelled to be there for fear of missing out. That includes the trade stands.
But for all that, it celebrates the best in farming and perhaps it is no harm for farmers to take a few days off at the Ploughing at the end of summer and hope for a better year next year.
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