Agriculture key to global challenges, says Tanaiste

An estimated 70,000 people attended the opening day of the National Ploughing Championships in Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny in blazing sunshine on the giant 600-acre site.

Yesterday saw Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny visit the site and the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture, Michelle Gildernew. Also on site was Minister of State for Food Trevor Sargent.

Officially opening the championships, the Tánaiste said she firmly believed that the future of agriculture and for those in the sector had never been better.

"For the first time in my lifetime, global demand for food outstripped supply. Secure supply has been the European norm for so many years, that we may have come to taking it for granted," she said.