CountryWide

IFA President Francie Gorman

Tami Joy is an Irish American farmer transplanted from Washington State to Co Galway. She now runs an agri tourism enterprise, where you can tour their farm, dine on their produce, stay the night and take part in workshops.

Naturalist and author Declan Murphy took us on a tour to see plants and animals that are under threat.

At the end of last winter, as a pilot project, Galway city's Biodiversity Officer asked Lackagh farmer Keith Fahy if he would allow five of this Dexter cattle to graze the meadows beside Ballyloughane Beach. Would conservation grazing improve plant life?

Journalist Orla Dwyer updates us on the latest UN global biodiversity summit in Colombia.

Countrywide Full Episode 02/11/2024

Catherine Cleary's endeavours to restore Ireland’s natural woodlands and protect biodiversity in her farm in County Roscommon are the subject of a new documentary by artist Beta Bajgart called Forest Midwife.

We are at a very interesting threshold in forest ownership in Ireland. The past century was mainly about the state investing in publicly owned forestry. But we are now at a tipping point where just fifty percent of forests in Ireland are now owned privately, and that number continues to grow.

There are hugely ambitious projects going on within our National Parks. For example, the largest conversion of commercial spruce forestry to native woodland in the history of the state in Nephin National Park. And the largest attempted restoration of a native woodland in the history of the state in Glenveagh National Park in Donegal.

A project in the Burren has identified an ancient stand of Irish pine and the Burrenbeo Trust is now conserving this unique variety for future generations.