A bright start to the weekend with Damien O'Reilly and the CountryWide team, featuring events, people and happenings from across the country.
infrequent
infrequent
infrequent
infrequent
weekdays
infrequent
daily
weekdays
infrequent
The report on the River Blackwater fish kill published this week was inconclusive, with no enough evidence to say what was to blame for the largest fish kill in Irish history. We discuss the impact of the flow of rivers and river pollution, with Professors Fiona Regan and Mary Bourke.
Rye is in the same family as wheat and historically was used in distilling and thatching. Nowadays most farmers are planting rye for animal feed. With the rise in craft bakeries, rye is also going into baked goods. We visit a farmer and food seller benefitting from this very old but increasingly trendy grain.
Féile na bPuiteachaí is a celebration of the blackberry on Inis Meán ar nOileann Arainn.
Hundreds of farms across the country have taken advantage of support from the ACRES scheme to plant native apple trees on their farms, including varieties like Rose Hogan, the Beauty of Ballintaylor or the Dick Davies.
Minister Martin Heydon addresses the concerns of Farmers expressed during the RTÉ Townhall during ploughing
A brand new language school which creates an on line community of Irish language learners who audio-read a book together. Lorna Siggins took a look into the new way of learning Irish and some of its converts.
There is a real concern that the local vet in rural Ireland, on call all hours of the day or night, to tend to farm animals on hillsides or in farmyards, may be a thing of the past. This week at the Ploughing, the Atlantic Technological University and the South East Technological University were showcasing their new courses.
There is a scheme generating a lot of inquiries, the National Parks and Wildlife Service's Farm Plan scheme. Tailored plans and financial support to make the switch to High Nature Value Farming. Philips visits one of these farms.
Back in the 90s, the introduction of Special Areas of Conservation created mistrust among some farmers, and now there is fear that history is about to repeat itself with the Nature Restoration Law. We take a closer look at those concerns with Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, chair of the independent advisory committee on the Nature Restoration Plan.
Maura, from Co Derry, married a farmer from Leinster and now lives on the farm in Kildare. This morning she tells us about the changing seasons of her life as her eldest child begins school.
For the first time in the 26 year history of the Macra Na Feirme Young Farmer of the Year competition, the overall winner is a woman, Aileen Sheehan.
Music Network has been bringing live music performances to venues in towns and villages across the country for decades, fostering interesting collaborations. Such as this collaboration between traditional pianist Ryan Molloy and sean nos singers Séamus & Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta. (For copyright reasons full musical tracks are not available here)
Countrywide Full Episode 13/09/2025. (For copyright reasons the full musical tracks are not available in the podcast)
Uisce Éireann is running a pilot project to reduce the amount of pesticides going in to lakes and rivers. They think it will be easier in the long run for them to stop pesticides getting in to our drinking water than it is for them to have to take them out.
Dr Dara Stanley, Associate Professor in Applied Entomology in the School of Agriculture and Food Science, and Earth Institute, at UCD.
Fin Walsh is a dairy farmer from Patrickswell, Co Limerick who has amassed over 150,000 TikTok followers, with posts about daily life on the farm.
ACORNS (Accelerating the Creation Of Rural Nascent Start-ups) is a free initiative for early-stage female entrepreneurs based in rural Ireland. Central to its popularity is the idea that early-stage entrepreneurs learn best from their peers.
The temperatures of waters off the west coast of Ireland have been heating up, resulting in a lot of changes to marine life. Six months ago, we heard from ten year-old Jonathan Padden from North Mayo, who found a tiny loggerhead turtle on An Fál Mór beach in Blacksod Bay.
The people at Farming For Nature have asked 21 of their farming ambassadors all around the country to open the gates to the public tomorrow for guided farm walks. Countrywide did just that during the week, and visited a farm outside Maynooth in Co Kildare.
If you go down to the woods today, particularly the woodland created by John Normanly in County Sligo, you are sure to see all manner of wild life. Together with his wife Maria, John has worked for more than twenty years to transform his fourteen hectare farm into a mixed forest with mostly oak trees, some larch and spruce and some beech trees.
In 1988 the Guild of Agricultural Journalists put together a time capsule in a milk churn. Inside, they placed articles of the day from the main Irish newspapers and the farming press, plus brochures for machinery, and that piece of radio archive. This week the padlocked churn was opened in the RDS at a gathering of agricultural journalists.
Countrywide speaks to Michael Healy-Rae, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Forestry, Farm Safety and Horticulture.
The fungus that causes Ash trees to die arrived here in 2012, with devastating consequences for 90% of the population. But now scientists have been investigating what was going on with the 10% of trees that will remain healthy, and they think that might hold the answer to how to restore the Ash in Ireland.
The demise of small abattoirs around the country has been decades in the making, but farmers producing small quantities of meat for local consumption in independent shops can't exist without them. And yet they continue to close.
Throughout the country, although the vacant property grant has breathed new life into old, empty homes, plenty still sit untouched. In the town land of Knockbrack in Sligo, a small farm has stood silent for half a century, when teenager Michael O'Hara set off for a new life in Brooklyn, New York in the mid 1970s. But it was never forgotten.
Ella McSweeney speaks to entrepreneur, investor and food king, Roscommon's John Stapleton. Go to johnstapleton.eu for more information.
Countrywide decided to hop on board a traditional barge which travels along the Grand Canal from Sallins in Kildare, joining other passengers to explore the nature in and along the waterway and guided by Chris McKenna. For more, go to bargetrip.ie
If you're a child in rural Ireland, will it ever be an option for you to cycle safely to school? The Rural Cycling Collective, which is part of the Irish Cycling Campaign, want rural roads to become safe again for cyclists. More on cyclist.ie
All around the country you might have seen combine harvesters and tractors on the roads and in the fields cutting the crops and bringing them in. Overall, Harvest 2025 is shaping up to be a positive one. The weather has stayed dry and the yields have been good. But as always, it's a less rosy picture when it comes to the prices…
On Sunday, the Irish Native Rare Breed Society will have a celebration of all their animals at Bunratty Castle in Clare. On 24th August they'll be at the Longford Westmeath mart for another event. It's all part of National Heritage Week which starts tomorrow with thousands of events to celebrate our built, natural and cultural heritage.
The economy of many coastal communities has changed in recent decades from fishing towards other marine-based industries. Lorna Siggins went to West Cork where seaweed is being grown in baths inside a temperature-controlled building right beside the sea.
Earlier this week, reports emerged of a fish kill on the river Blackwater, initially believed to affect an eight-kilometer stretch between Mallow and Roskeen Bridge.
Preparations are in full swing in Fuddlestown, Co Wexford, for an on-farm local music festival taking place on the last weekend in August. Fuddlefest.ie for more details.
Countrywide Full Episode 09/08/2025, live from the Dublin Horse Show in the RDS.
The Cat Candy is a tan and white pony, owned by David Kelly, and ridden by 11 year old Freya Kavanagh. This year, it is competing in Class 93 - The Working Hunter Pony (Starter Stakes). What kind of preparation does it take to be selected to enter this ring?
The centre piece of the Dublin Horse Show is the Nations Cup for the Aga Khan Trophy. The man behind the Irish team is Michael Blake from Tuamgraney.
Mary McCann is something of a legend in Sport Horse circles, having bred some of the most successful showjumpers in the history of the sport. She brought horses to the Dublin Horse Show every year since 1956.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
