RTÉ - CountryWide Podcast

In the current oil crisis, which the International Energy Agency this week called the ‘worst in history', fluctuating prices on fuel and fertiliser will have a severe impact on farmers. Philip meets farmers and contractors at the forefront of this, including one farmer who has found a way to function without using chemical fertilisers.

Lorna Siggins attends a demonstration of the search and rescue dogs of the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team in Killarney.

This week, an Israeli registered Livestock carrier left Ireland heading to Israel, with a large shipment of calves on board. But with the port of Haifa under threat in the current Middle East conflict, it's unclear whether the ship will be able to land and unload these animals. Philip talks to journalist Lilach Laila Ben David in Haifa.

Following the news of the collapse of carrot producers Hughes in Kilkenny last week, Philip talks to another horticulturalist, Kenneth Keavey of Green Earth Organics in Co. Galway about the issues facing procuders like him and possible solutions.

Treasa Bhreathnach joined Mountain Meitheal West, in the Galway Clare area a few weeks ago, while they were out clearing hazel from the trails on the Carren Loop in County Clare.

Agriculture minister, Martin Heydon, announced Carina Roseingrave as Ireland's Female Farming Ambassador for the International Year Of The Woman Farmer. We visited her on her farm in Crusheen, Co Clare.

Should we even be using the term female farmer in 2026? Is it naive to not recognise that more women farmers fall by the wayside than men? How a female perspective makes farms more productive, profitable and safe. Aileen Sheahan, Dairy farmer. Ciara Stanley, Beef farmer. Ailbhe Gerrard, mixed farmer.

Unlike Ireland New Zealand has nearly entirely eradicated Bovine TB. Kiwi veterinary epidemiologist, Dallas New, visited Ireland recently. Back at home she reflects on what we could do differently.

Women are very visible throughout the bloodstock and racing industries, except in on role. There are only four female farriers in the country. Suzanne Campbell meets Abby O'Donnell who is training to become the fifth.

At Carbury bog in Kildare, a local community group has cracked the problem of simultaneously protecting nature while allowing people who can't afford not to – to keep cutting turf to heat their homes. Philip meets Ciara Duggan, Chair of Carbury Bogs.

Janet Heeran in Cork on the many days of rain this year. Featuring the track ‘Light Rain Blues' by Sam Amidon. (For copyright reasons the full track used in the background of this piece cannot be made available in the podcast)

Professor John Feehan, Geologist and Botanist, argues that the rewetting of bogs may prove to be a major missed opportunity for nature, and that we need to adjust our timeframes to think like mountains.

Della Kilroy meets artist Annie Holland on Abbeyleix Bog to hear about her work which is inspired by the landscape there. Annie is one of 19 artists identified by The Community Wetlands Forum as someone whose work encourages people to look afresh at their local bogs.

Lemanaghan Bog in Offaly, or Manchán's bog, has been earmarked by Bord Na Mona and SSE Renewables as a site for turbines. Locals like Ciara Egan would prefer if it hadn't. She tells Philip about the relationship the local people have with the land there.

26 years ago, a team of archaeologists followed in the wake of Bord Na Mona's peat harvesting machinery to rescue artefacts revealed by the milling. It raises the possibility of bog bodies having being burned in our peat fired power stations.

Farming in peaty soils is challenging. But not so for horticulture. In Connemara Aongus O'Coistealbha has embraced the Lazy Beds growing system developed by our ancestors, which is anything but lazy as Lorna Siggins reports.

Countrywide Full Episode 07/03/2026

An opinion poll of farmers shows they are prepared to go much further than farm leaders or politicians in trying to eradicate bovine tuberculosis. Liam Guinan, Farmer, Birr Co Offaly. Dr Deirdre Robertson, Senior Researcher, ESRI. Eamonn Carroll, VP ICMSA.

Creative Ireland has fostered collaborations between artists and farmers to better explain farming to the public. Della Kilroy visited farmer Barry Connolly and Artists Helen Sharp in Fermanagh.

One of the surest signs of spring is the moment when the soil gets above 5 degrees in temperature and grass starts growing. Suzanne Campbell visited Tom Burgess on his Coolattin Cheese farm in Wicklow to see how fresh grass and silage affected the taste of the milk and his global award-winning cheddar cheese.

Three experts in their field on the signs that spring has or hasn't sprung. Aine O'Donoghue, Irish Peatland Conservation Council on frogs and frogspawn. Prof Jane Stout on the first pollinators to emerge from hibernation. Declan Murphy Naturalist and Author on the birds beginning nesting

Countrywide Full Episode 28/02/2026

Tangle Net Fishing for Crayfish is sweeping up other critically endangered species as “by-catch”. How do we save Angel Sharks from extinction while preserving fishermen incomes and coastal communities? Marine Biologist, Dr Patrick Collins, QUB. Crayfish fisherman, Eddie Moore, NIFA. Angel Shark project leader, Louise Overy, MTU.

Families who have traditionally harvested seaweed from the foreshore fear that a new requirement to register before collecting will favour a multinational exporter over them. Lorna Siggins reports.

When a song about seaweed is actually about so much more.

What do farmers outside the mainstream make of the IFA / Bord Bia stand off, and how would they like to reinvent our food systems for the 21st century. Fergal Anderson, Co-Founder, Talamh Beo.

Lee Hunter has developed a way to tell the difference between live and dead oysters using sound.

Countrywide Full Episode 21/02/2026

A drop in the price of milk in the international markets threatens to cut average dairy farm incomes by €70,000 this year. Dairy Farmers Aoife Ladd, Liam Walshe and Dan Hanley. Paul Smyth from the ICMSA.

Only 10% of Irish milk is sold in Ireland. The rest is sold mostly as powdered milk in three quarters of the countries around the world. Suzanne Campbell reports on how that ingredient is used in everything from dry roasted peanuts to shampoo.

Regan Hutchins pays a visit to the museum that explores Irish history through a dairy lens.

Agri-economist Prof Alan Matthews on why efforts to reduce supply and increase the international price are unlikely to work.

Writer Dennis Ryan reads an excerpt from his memoir about the last day his father milked his cows.

Dan Hanley in Kildorrery nominates 1255 from his Holstein Friesian herd who has mastered pulling the hopper cord to feed herself and her herd mates.

Countrywide Full Episode 14/02/2026

Is the way we are farming partly responsible for flooding, and what changes might decrease damage in the future? Geomorphologist Prof Mary Bourke. Sligo Farmers Eddie Davitt and Joe Leonard. Farming For Water EIP, dairy farmer, Alan Poole. We also spoke to Orla Heffernan, a homeowner in Ballina who suffered a major flooding event in 2015.

Leading Jet Stream expert Dr Jennifer Francis explains how the fast-moving current that used to ensure changeable weather is increasingly getting stuck.

Rob Gardner, Natural Asset Investment manager argues nature-based flooding solutions give you more bang for your buck than traditional concrete and steel protection.

Countrywide Full Episode 07/02/2026

Ireland's farm machinery sector is an unsung economic dynamo, creating nearly as much wealth as the tourist industry and a value to the economy of almost €5bn. Simon Cross from Cross Agri-Engineering in Kildare; Michael Farrelly, CEO of the FTMTA.

An excerpt from Seamus's memoir Leaning On Gates about what “innovating” with tractors in the eighties.

40% of workplace fatalities happen on farms. Half of those involve machinery. Suzanne Campbell accompanies a HSA inspector doing a farm safety audit.