Rathangan Country Fair claims victory in 'harvesting' world record attempt
Rathangan Country Fair is laying claim to a world record attempt which featured a century of various harvesting methods.
Although there was no official adjudicator on site to monitor the attempt, organisers of the south Wexford annual fair are celebrating it as a success.
The record attempt - which was titled 'A Century of Harvest' - displayed up to 14 methods of grain crop harvesting methods from the 20th century all working together in the same field simultaneously.
According to organisers of fair held last Sunday (July 20), the spectacle produced a colourful flashback to various farming methods that evolved from the traditional horse-drawn methods to modern combine harvesters.
The country fair had been attended by the Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy TD, Minster of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Noel Grealish, and AONTU Councillor, Jim Codd.
The managing director of the National Ploughing Association (NPA), Anna May McHugh, and the National Ploughing Champion 2024, Martin Kehoe, who will represent Ireland in the World Ploughing Championships in the Czech Republic later this year also attend the fair.
Ray Rochford , chair of Rathangan Country Fair committee, said described the record bid as "unique and once-off event".
"This event demonstrated the various methods of harvesting across Ireland over the past 100 years.
"To our knowledge this is the first time methods are demonstrated simultaneously within the same field.
'While it was not documented with a judge, given that it was the first time such an array of machinery dating back generations, working together as one, it is well documented as being a world record".
Rochford said he had spoken to people "from around the country and outside countries and they never heard of such an array of machinery being together to harvest at the same time".
Separately, recent rains have acted to significantly reduce the risk of fires associated with combines harvesting tinder-dry crops, according to Teagasc tillage specialist Shay Phelan.
He told Agriland: “The rain has come at an opportune time for a number of reasons.
“Fire risks apart, the winter barley harvest is pretty much wrapped up at this stage.
“There will be a few days’ break before winter oat crops reach full maturity. After that, it’s pretty much full on with winter oilseed rape and then winter wheat crops coming through for harvest.”
The tillage specialist said farmers are unlikely to get a break after the winter crops are harvested.
“There is also a strong likelihood that the first of this year’s spring barley crops will be harvested before the end of July,” he explained.
