The good weather of 2025 proved optimal for the setup of the site for the 2025 National Ploughing Championships, which return to Screggan, Co Offaly, this year.

“People like the site – it has had everything thrown at it storm-wise,” says assistant managing director of the National Ploughing Association (NPA) Anna Marie McHugh.

She is, of course, referencing the last time the National Ploughing Championships were in Screggan, which was 2018, when storm Ali’s high winds forced a day of events at what is Europe’s largest outdoor event to be postponed.

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“People like it, it’s the centre of the country and it works. We’ve got a huge amount of ground work done,” she says, adding that the early harvest this year has been a big advantage to preparations.

The NPA has put a big focus on boosting the amount of livestock at this year’s event, with the All-Ireland Aberdeen Angus championships being held in Screggan this year.

“There’s more cattle this year and that has been a concerted effort,” she tells the Irish Farmers Journal. Admitting that a three-day event is a “hard sell” for livestock breeders, she says that people attending the event are always looking to see animals.

Over the three days this year there will also be the Angus schools competition and the Aubrac, Shorthorn, Simmental, Fleckvieh and Charolais societies will all be on site with cattle.

They will all offer an array events on different days and will also will be complemented with 12 sheep breeds.

McHugh says the NPA is always looking to develop the food sector at the Ploughing, to give companies a market base to get products out there. This year Midlands Flavours will be at the event, which will highlight the very best local producers from Longford, Laois, Offaly and Westmeath, with cookery demonstrations every morning and afternoon. Artificial intelligence (AI) will also be a feature at this year’s event, she says, with the Local Enterprise Office partnering up with Google to help small and medium enterprises upskill in digital tools and AI.

Agriculture and rural Ireland is still the core base for the NPA, McHugh said.

Farmers in Screggan this year will no doubt be buoyed by the good prices in the drystock sector.

However McHugh says that grain prices are deplorable and that input costs are still massive for tillage farmers.

The Ploughing is massively important for local sports clubs, with over 600 volunteers expected on the ground over the three days, with the NPA making a donation to clubs in return, McHugh says.

On the Ploughing itself, it’s very much a family affair. Her own brother is ploughing this year, along with his two sons. There are other people there that will have a number of family members taking part, such as the Simms from Donegal and the O’Driscolls from Cork.

For anyone heading to Screggan next week, the assistant managing director is advising them to make a plan of things they want to see at what is Europe’s largest outdoor event.