In 1959, O'Farrell represented the NPA at the 7th World Ploughing Contest to Armoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

[26][27] In 1964, the NPA sent two competitors to Fuchsenbigl, near Vienna, Austria, where Ireland won their first World Title when Charlie Keegan, from County Wicklow, was the winner.

[29] The Irish Times reported how the tractor on which Charlie Keegan won World Ploughing Championships in 1964 had now been restored.

The Kilkenny People, in their September 1972 obituary, recorded that he was NPA Managing Director and a member of World Ploughing Organisation and that the graveside oration was delivered by Seán Ó Síocháin, General Secretary of GAA.

In September 2015, National Ploughing Association Managing Director Anna May McHugh was awarded the Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Ambassador to Ireland Mr Jean-Pierre Thébault.

[32] In 1973, the year of McHugh's appointment as managing director, the 20th World Ploughing Contest was held in County Wexford.

[21] In 1994, Martin Kehoe from County Wexford won the first of his three World Champion titles – in 1994 from Outram, near Dunedin, New Zealand; in 1995 from Egerton, Njoro, Kenya and in 1999 from Pomacle, France.

The only other Irish World Champion (apart from first winner, Charlie Keegan) was Eamonn Tracey, winning in Saint Jean D'Illac, France in 2014.

By 1978, the championships returned to County Kilkenny - this time to the village where Anna May McHugh's predecessor, Seán O'Farrell, was born, Knocktopher.

the Irish Countrywomen's Association and Country Markets started giving cookery and craft demonstrations at the shows around this time.

[35] Between 2000 and 2011, the Ploughing Championships had grown to 180,000 spectators, 320 competitors, 1,100 exhibitors, 14 shopping arcades and was by then generating €10m for the local Irish economy.

[39][40] The 2021 event went ahead on a much scaled-back level, with the trade exhibition element and the world ploughing contest cancelled due to uncertainty over COVID-19 restrictions.