CountryWide

Producing cereals is only becoming more and more challenging thanks to climate change and a poor international price.

All summer long, Galway Hookers and their smaller counterparts, Gleoiteogaí, can be seen out on Galway Bay competing in the yearly regatta and sailing league.

For the last three days there has been a conference in Dublin examining zoonotic diseases, those like Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Covid-19 which can cross from animals to humans. Professor Alison Van Eenennaam speaks about the state of research which genetically alters livestock to remove or reduce their susceptibility to all manner of disease.

Over time the number of people producing vegetables in Ireland has grown smaller and smaller. So it is not often you hear of a young person getting into commercial vegetable growing, like Brian McCarthy, who started with just a small roof top garden before moving to a much larger space.

Countrywide Full Episode 07/09/2024

Countrywide visits Gill Smith's farm in Carrigaline, County Cork. She is now retired and having to make tough decisions about the future of the herd.

In years past, cousins from England, Scotland and further afield used to make the pilgrimage to the home place in the summer, just like Noel Gallagher. Does that still happen today?

Countrywide Full Episode 31/08/2024

Once upon a time, Irish wool was very valuable, used for clothing and carpets. But times, tastes and breeds of sheep have changed, and wool is sometimes seen as an unwanted by-product of the sheep industry. But there are moves afoot to change this...

It has been a tough year for farming, but how has the summer of 2024 been for small tourism businesses focused on farms in rural Ireland?