Northern Ireland Ploughmen having a field day in Estonia at World Ploughing Championships

Two of Northern Ireland’s finest - David Wright, from Magherafelt, and Andrew Gill, from Crossgar, are competing at the contest to find the world expert in the art of ploughing this weekend.

And what an art it is. With expertise passed down from generation to generation and years of learned experience - the local men lead the field.

David is ploughing in the Reversible Class and Andrew in the Conventional Class.

To qualify to travel to the Worlds in Estonia, David and Andrew won the 2023 Northern Ireland Ploughing Championships in their classes.

And with numerous other titles already under their belts, they are no strangers to the tricky conditions that they have to work in.

The competitors in the stubble field will have to contend with a site that had winter wheat grown in it this year - and will have a proposed ploughing depth of 18-22cm.

In the grassland field, the field is a mixture of different grasses and legumes that were seeded in 2021 and receive three cuts every year. This field also has a proposed ploughing depth of 18-22cm.

The ploughmen are accompanied by Rodney Crawford, who is the coach for the team and the Northern Ireland representative on the judging panel. Adrian Jamison is also in Estonia in his capacity as the Northern Ireland World Board member.

The tractors arrived from Ireland ahead of the competitors, but without their drivers available to remove them from the lorries that brought them, members of the Australian team were present to drive them off.

According to the World Ploughing Championship 2024: “The Australians deserve awards for their tremendous willingness to help.”