Day one of the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, has drawn to a close.

Despite the dodgy outlook for the weather, day one ran fairly smoothly with just one major shower at 3pm.

The first family to the ploughing were the O’Sullivans from Nenagh, Co Tipperary. They’ve won the race to the Ploughing two years in a row now and are turning it into a bit of a tradition.

President Michael D Higgins was out in the fields with the ploughmen before officially opening the three-day event. He confronted a range of political issues facing farmers as other candidates in the presidential election visited Ploughing stands.

Listen to "President Michael D Higgins at Ploughing 2018" on Spreaker.

Meanwhile, Embrace Farm held the final stage of its 32-county "Drive to Remember". Those who died in farming accidents were represented by wellies on the Embrace stand.

An Garda Síochána revealed that €1.4m worth of goods were stolen from farms last year.

On day one, the Machine of the Year winner was announced as Agri-Spread International for the automatic GPS section control on its equipment.

And, if you are wondering where all those flat caps came from, The Dealer might have had something to do with it.

Read more

Listen: inside the Innovation Arena at Ploughing 2018

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail: working at the Ploughing

In pictures: day one of the National Ploughing Championships

All the results from day one of Ploughing 2018