This year’s National Ploughing Championships Trade Exhibition has officially been cancelled.

Nearly 300,000 people attended the event last year, making it the largest outdoor event in Europe.

The hundreds of exhibitors who had already booked a place at the event will be offered full refunds in the coming weeks.

Organisers say they still hope to run the ploughing competitions behind closed gates.

Jerry Dennehy from County Kerry with a pair of horses on the first day of the National Ploughing Championships in Carlow, 17-09-2019. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Managing Director Anna May McHugh said organisers “reached this very difficult decision to cancel the Trade Exhibition as public health and safety is our foremost priority given the current global pandemic.”

“With visitor attendance last year of 297,000 and up to 1,700 exhibitors, we had too many concerns about how we could implement social distancing and the potential risk of bringing together people from all over the country.

“However, we are still hoping that we may be able to run the National Ploughing Competitions behind closed gates and that situation will be closely reviewed over the next number of weeks.”

President Michael D Higgins at the National Ploughing Championships in Carlow, Ireland, 17-09-2019. Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA Images

The event, which was due to take place in Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co Carlow from September 15th to 17th, was estimated to be worth around €45m to the region.

Organisers said the loss is “massively significant to the Irish economy” but insisted the event will be back bigger and better next year.

The 2021 championship mark the 90th anniversary of the National Ploughing Association and Ireland will be hosting the World Ploughing Championships alongside the national event between the 15th and 18th of September.