PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins has urged the farming community to lead the battle to safeguard the environment on the opening day of the annual National Ploughing Championships.
The three-day event returned to Ratheniska in Co. Louth today, where the historic international ploughing competition will get underway.
Alongside its flagship competitions, all manner of rural activities and displays will also be taking place at the festival, celebrating some of the most traditional practices across Ireland.
Welcoming the thousands who will attend over the course of the three days, President Higgins said: “While the core of the [Championships] is an international ploughing contest, it has evolved into a diverse event showcasing livestock, machinery, crafts, and more, reflecting all that is engaging with our modern, rural Ireland.
“Over the next three days, we will have the chance to take part in this celebration of Irish rural life in the fullest sense, to connect with those close to nature, who care for it, opportunities too to explore the advice and innovations on offer for the achievement of the ecological, social and economic goals to which we are committed.”
Regarding these goals, the President took the opportunity to remind those gathered of their responsibilities to safeguard the planet for future generations.
“New measures and the resources to achieve [these goals] are not just important, but now urgent for all of us and future generations,” he said.
“Life in rural Ireland is not just a zone of production, continually intentioned to meet ever-changing market conditions. It is a space of living, composed of diverse communities.
“People in rural Ireland are well aware of the balances required for healthy living, clean water and a sustainable lifestyle.
“Such balance is vital for our farming communities, who are, in a proximate sense, the custodians of our land and our natural environment.”
He added: “The State, all of its agencies and all of us must be co-operating partners in responding to the devastating loss, and in some cases destruction, of biodiversity, and of ensuring the possibility of handing on a habitable planet.”
Warning of the most pressing environmental issues we face, President Higgins said: “We are at a point of multiple crises.
“We are, all of us, as citizens, producers, consumers, farmers, asked to play a critical role in combating some of our greatest challenges, including climate change and biodiversity loss.”
“Change is not easy,” he added, “but it is unavoidable for survival itself, and I applaud all of the efforts that are being made towards creating a sustainable future.”
“I encourage our farmers to continue on the path of change, transcend difficulties by designing strategies of implementation, and lead the way in adopting sustainable practices that can be demonstrated as successes to the farming community, ones that safeguard our environment.”
