Day one:An estimated 45,000 people yesterday attended the National Ploughing Championships near Tullamore, Co Offaly, when good weather attracted a huge crowd to the opening day of the event.
The 76th ploughing championships were officially opened by President Mary McAleese.
She praised the voluntary effort put into the event by the National Ploughing Association and said the event was at the very heart of Irish agriculture and rural Ireland.
Later, the President toured a number of stands and met some of the 300 competitors who are taking part in this week's event which runs until Thursday.
The event attracted a significant turnout of politicians from all parties, including Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan and Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív.
Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture Michelle Gildernew also attended the opening day and had discussions with Ms Coughlan on the growing threat to Irish Agriculture from foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue.
Anna May McHugh, managing director of the National Ploughing Association, said this had been one of the largest opening days of the event, which has in recent years attracted up to 180,000 over the three days.
As in other years traffic congestion caused some problems with motorists from the south of the country experiencing difficulties, but by lunchtime these had been resolved.
Garda Insp Joe Prendergast, Tullamore, said there had been some teething problems with the flow of traffic early in the morning and that this was as a result of volume and the speed at which cars could be got into car parks.
"We will be meeting later tonight and trying to refine the system . . . I would ask people who are coming here to come as early as possible and we hope to have things working smoothly," he said.
While the threat of animal diseases from Britain dominated conversations, there was good news for dairy farmers who faced near ruin this time last year but are now riding high on a surge of international demand and short supply.
Ms Coughlan said there was a possibility that, because of market conditions, agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels later this week will be attempting to lift the limit on the amount of milk being produced in the EU by 2 to 3 per cent. She will support that view.
Elsewhere, Mr Ó Cuív said his department is to provide funding for the employment of 11 rural recreation officers in areas where there are clusters of suitable, accessible walks.
He said the officers will be employed through the relevant Leader company in the area on behalf of the department and their role will be to co-ordinate and oversee the management of trails and assist in the marketing and promotion of such paths in the region.
He was speaking at a debate on access to land, organised by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, where former Labour Party leader Ruairí Quinn outlined the Bill on access to recreation land which the party published recently.
The president of the hosting association, Jackie Cahill, warned that farmers could not be forced to allow walkers on to their lands and would react badly to such an initiative.
Other speakers included Isobel Smith, education officer with the Heritage Council, who said a major communications problem had to be addressed on the issue.