This is the third year in a row that the National Ploughing Championships will take place on the farm of Clive Carter and his family in Ratheniska, Co. Laois.
Carter said that while he has really enjoyed the last two years he is looking forward to this year’s event even more.
Work started on this site from August 4 when the Carter family finished up farming on the land at the end of July.
The site, he said, is adjoining the Electric Picnic site – which saw over 40,000 people descend on Laois for the weekend, while the National Ploughing Championships will see in the region of 280,000 people will visit the three-day event on the Carter farm.
The Carters keep 700 ewes on the farm, which they will ‘reclaim’ in October after the site has been dismantled and removed.
He told Agriland that after the 2012 event, he got a call from a neighbour who is a member of the Laois Ploughing and he was wondering if the family would let the National Ploughing Association (NPA) have a look around the farm to see if it would be suitable for the event.
“They came around the following day and had a look around the farm and spent a lot of time looking at the road network and it went from there really.
“Access was probably one of the main issues, more so than the land,” he said.
At that time Carter said that the site was in stubble, so it needed to be put into grass, which was done at the end of October (2012).
The site for this year’s Ploughing is 800ac, 400ac of which will be used for parking, 180ac for ploughing, 80ac for trade stands and exhibition space and a demonstration area of approximately 25ac.
