ANNA MAY Mc Hugh, the managing director of the National Ploughing Association said the official opening day attendance of 66,000 people in Athy was probably an underestimate.
It was an all time record for the National Ploughing Championships and most seasoned ploughing observers believed the figure should be closer to 80,000 because there was barely room to move on the giant site, especially around the trade stands.
It was formally opened by President Mary McAleese who described the tented site as “a brand new temporary capital of rural Ireland”.
It was a credit to the voluntary effort of the people involved despite the tough economic climate.
She told the crowds that by their presence they were creating an inspirational sign of what they were capable of achieving when everybody pulled together.
“There is a big statement in this place about the faith and pride we have in ourselves and the hopes we have that we will put our country back on the map of economic progress and prosperity,” she said.
“We will do it between us and we will do it for our children. Please God [we] will see the evidence of that very soon because the passion is there and the pride is there,” she said.
The President praised the massive community effort to transform a working farm and its fields into a temporary city complete with traffic management, entertainment, restaurants, exhibits, competitions, workshops, information points and meeting places.
Apart from the good news from the Irish Food Board about the increase in the value of our food and drinks exports there was also good news for midland farmers when Biotricity, the renewable energy group specialising in biomass, announced its launch of the first tranche of grower contracts. These involve the supply short rotation coppiced willow as feedstock for its biomass facility at Rhode, Co Offaly.
The contracts will pay a guaranteed price of €36 per tonne at 50 per cent moisture with seven- or 15-year term options. In addition, farmers will be offered financial support to meet the establishment costs of the crop, with repayment spread over the duration of the contract.
The minimum contract size is for 10 acres and rower contracts are estimated to deliver a gross margin, net of repayment of establishment costs, in a range of €205 to €230 per acre, which compares very favourably with alternative tillage crops.
Coppiced willow crops also meet Single Farm Payment conditions.
Biotricity CEO Declan Kennedy said the contracts were to supply 3,000 acres of coppiced willow as feedstock for the biomass facility at Rhode.
He said the company had recently secured full planning approval for this facility and looked forward to establishing a strong and long-term commercial partnership with farmer growers to supply biomass to the plant – at a competitive price that works for both sides.
While Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith failed to announce the early payment of the Single Farm Payment yesterday, it is confidently expected he will bring the good news of the early payout when he visits the site here this morning.
The Government was given the full support of the farming community by the Irish Farmers Association yesterday in meeting the Government’s targets for growth in the agricultural sector.
Its president, John Bryan, said if the Government gave clear direction and policy supports and schemes were funded, the farming community was ready and willing to meet the Government targets.
The special traffic plan put in place for the event was tested strongly yesterday morning and while traffic moved, it did so very slowly because so many people decided to travel early.
The championships made their own history yesterday by sparking an Irish Aviation Authority alert in the morning when a helium filled “blimp” or balloon, which was 4m x 2m, took to the skies.
The blimp was deemed to be a danger to aircraft and was said to be travelling in a northerly direction. By late last evening, the balloon, on which the letters JKC were written, had not been recovered.