Up to 80,000 people are expected to attend the opening day of this year’s National Ploughing Championships (NPC) in Screggan, Co Offaly today.

The 95th renewal will see a significant increase in the number and range of machinery exhibitors, as well as more international competitors.

The centre of the event will be ploughing, but what else is happening across the 700-acre site between today and Thursday?

Here’s a flavour…

Plenty of ploughing

Although it has essentially evolved into a three-day national festival, it would not be the National Ploughing Championships without some actual ploughing.

180 acres of the site will be used for ploughing competition, and more than 350 competitors will engage in both old and modern methods of ploughing across 34 unique classes.

There is also a significant international dimension to the competition, with the Five Nations Ploughing Competition being held over two days.

Bigger and better machinery

The 2026 renewal sees a significant increase in the number and range of exhibitors, as well as more international competitors.

There are 150 acres covered by trade stands, and much of this will be used to accommodate a big jump in the number of machinery exhibitors.

The likes of the huge and expensive tractors and combine harvesters are a huge draw for the crowds, and this year sees strong representation from Northern Ireland, alongside exhibitors travelling from Scotland, England, France, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand.

Livestock competition

There will be a fantastic variety of livestock across the three days.

This includes major competitions with an extensive selection of breeds and displays.

The Growvite All-Ireland Aberdeen Angus Finals take place today, while tomorrow brings the Irish Simmental National Calf Finals, and Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition.

Interactive demonstrations

The Health and Safety Authority will stage live hourly farm-safety demonstrations – including vehicle blind spots, PTO entanglement, falling objects, working at height and quad safety.

They will also have a farm-machinery simulator.

Revenue will hold live detector-dog demonstrations daily at 10am and 2pm, which involve Revenue detector dogs and a Department of Agriculture food detector dog.

And over at the Road Safety Authority tent there are road-safety demonstrations – including immersive VR road-safety simulations, a rollover simulator, and breathalyser experience.

For a change of pace, visitors can also head to the sheep shearing tent to watch live demonstrations of shearing.

Farmer challenges to be highlighted

This year’s event takes place against the backdrop of a number of prominent issues facing the country’s farmers; notably spiking energy costs, and the fallout from an exceptionally dry and warm summer.

The prolonged dry and hot weather has meant that grass and crops have stopped growing in parts of the country, mostly in the east and southeast.

This is a huge problem for tillage farmers, whose yields are down and the quality of their crops is poorer.

Livestock farmers have had to use up their winter fodder supplies, which could lead to problems later in the year when grass growth usually slows anyway.

Another looming issue for Irish farmers – the proposed cut to ringfenced EU CAP funding by around a fifth – is also likely to feature heavily later in the week when EU Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen is expected to be in attendance.

A tech takeover

There is no getting away from it … AI is increasingly a major consideration for everyone now, including farmers.

At the ploughing, there will be a Google AI team on site across the week advising farmers, agricultural contractors and the like on how best to adopt AI into their operations.

Meanwhile, the future of farming will be on show at the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena, where Irish agri-tech businesses and innovators will showcase new ideas and solutions to farming challenges.

A cultural celebration

Screggan is the centre of Irish agriculture and rural life this week.

Centre to that will be the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) tent, which is running a programme of cookery, crafts, fitness, health and heritage demonstrations.

And a new generation is taking part in another Ploughing favourite … the National Brown Bread Baking Competition.

The competition has introduced a Junior Competition for young bakers aged 12–18.

Sixteen finalists – eight junior and eight senior – will bake live during the Championships, with both winners crowned on Thursday.

The 2026 finals bring with them a fantastic storyline, with a father and daughter (Michael Ruddock and his daughter Aoife) separately making it to the respective junior and senior final competitions.