Celebrated Co. Down ploughman Andrew Gill has been at the very top of his sport for the last number of years.
He came home from the 2023 World Ploughing Championships, held in Latvia, with an individual bronze medal.
This would have been an amazing feat for any competitor.
But the success was made all the sweeter for Andrew, given that he was only in his very early thirties at the time.
Moreover, he had spent most of the previous decade coping with the challenge of leukaemia.
Andrew took the opportunity of relating his experiences, both as a farmer and elite competitor, at a recent landowner engagement event, hosted by Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) (UK).
The evening in question had a very strong health and safety dimension.
Ploughing
Andrew picked up the fundamentals of ploughing from his father and grandfather at a very early age.
As soon as he was old enough, he was given the opportunity to practice ploughing at the home farm. This was supplemented with regular visits to ploughing competitions held the length and breadth of the island of Ireland.
All of these opportunities provided Andrew with the perfect opportunity to transition seamlessly from practice ploughing to participation in actual competitions.
His skills were quickly noticed and it was not long before he was competing at an international level.
The Listooder man is very quick to confirm the tremendous support that he received from so many people while battling cancer.
He also found ploughing, whether it should happen to be a competitive event or simply helping to put in crops for neighbours, to be very therapeutic in this regard.
And there is still so much more for Andrew to look forward to.
2026 World Ploughing Championships
The 2026 World Ploughing Championships take place in Croatia at the beginning of September.
Expectations are high that ploughmen from across the island of Ireland will perform well at the event.
But as Andrew is quick to point out, it is all about the ploughing conditions that confront all the competitors taking part in the event.
The soil types that predominate in central Europe are very different for those found in Ireland.
Meanwhile, ploughing remains the starting point to the cultivation systems that are practised by most Irish tillage farmers.
And, courtesy of his presentation at the GNI (UK) event, Andrew relayed the following health and safety advice: always check the location of all underground cables and pipes before beginning to plough.
