A small number of beet farmers heckled Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan yesterday when she officially opened the 75th National Ploughing Championships at Grangeford near Tullow, Co Carlow.
About 50 former beet growers shouted the Minister down, forcing her to abandon her script and cut short her address.
The protesters - who are members of the Midland Beet Growers Association - roared "Coughlan go home" and used a foghorn as she spoke. Ms Coughlan accused them of being "bad-mannered".
"I do believe that occasions like this are ones to celebrate and I am terribly disappointed that others would attempt to spoil an event for an organisation that has been synonymous with the betterment of rural Ireland," she said.
The protesters said they wanted to highlight the Minister's poor handling of the sugar beet industry and that she had allowed the EU to close it down.
At a press conference later, however, the Minister outlined her role in the saga and said she had always worked closely with and heeded the advice of the farm organisations.
"What we heard down there at the opening was, I think, a minority opinion. The majority of farmers decided they could not grow beet at the price being offered and they opted for a compensation package which I am pushing through," she said.
The Minister announced a new milk quota trading scheme and said she would extend mandatory labelling of all food in all the sectors as soon as possible. She was clearly unfazed by the protest, and spent the afternoon touring the 800 trade stands and meeting the public. There were no more incidents.
The wet, windy weather caused a drop in opening day attendance which organisers put at 42,000. There were traffic delays around Carlow town but, in general, traffic moved smoothly.
Managing director of the National Ploughing Association Anna May McHugh said that while numbers were lower than for last year, a discouraging weather forecast had to be taken into account and the fact that the ploughing was a four-day event this year as it also incorporates the world championships.
"The atmosphere here is very good and the stand holders tell me they are generally pleased with the level of business," said Mrs McHugh.
The other main event yesterday was the launch by Minister of State at Enterprise, Trade and Employment Tony Killeen of a code of practice for farmers to cut numbers killed on farms each year. He said 16 people had died in farm accidents this year, bringing the total since 2000 to more than 120.
The code for the prevention of accidents and occupational ill-health in agriculture, he said, was to provide practical guidance to farmers, farm family members, employees, service providers, advisers, trainers and people with a role in safety and health on the Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.
The code consists of three distinct documents. One outlines the code; the second is a risk assessment document and the third, a safe system work plan.
It will be delivered to the farming community through a series of training events. Of the 18 fatal accidents last year, about 40 per cent involved tractors and machinery.