Six rural towns have been invited by the Department of Rural & Community Development to come up with proposals for a pilot scheme, which aims to encourage more people to live in their town centres. One of the six is Castleblaney & Louise Denvir brings us this report.

Hundreds of women associated with farming & agriculture gathered in Killarney this week for the annual Women & Agricultural conference organised by Irish County Living & the Farmers Journal. It was the first big event for the new editor of Irish Country Living, Amii McKeever who is in studio with Damien this morning.

Pumpkins have become a feature of the season too & more people are growing them for sale including Caroline Whelan who has developed a patch on the family farm in Ardrahan, Co. Galway which is a traditional livestock farm run by her father. Brenda Donohue searches for the perfect pumpkin!

We learned with sadness a week ago of the passing of bee expert Philip McCabe. Philip was a regular contributor to the Derek Mooney Show & Mooney Goes Wild. In September 2010 Damien was invited to his apiary in county Louth to teach him a thing or two about bees & beekeeping. We broadcast some of the report in memory of the late Philip McCabe. May he rest in peace.

It is the peak of rutting season in Phoenix Park & Damien met with environmental scientist Lief Barry to find out a little bit more about deer mating season. Male Fallow deer face off for the right to mate with their strange calls & clash of antlers all displays to make the male conspicuous & aids in mate selection.

Brenda O'Donohue joined a group of tourists on a two hour walking food tour of Galway. Founder of Galway Food Tours, Sheena Duigam, took them on a journey which went from oysters to cheese, sushi to crab, doughnuts to strawberry tarts, local beers & much more.

Damien is joined by Wexford man Nick Whelan in our Belfast studio. Nick is Chief Executive of Northern Ireland's largest dairy co-op Dale Farm which is owned by 1300 farmers & employs over 1000 staff.

It hasn't been an easy year for tillage farmers & for Ned English of Castlecomer Potatoes, in Kilbrin near Kanturk in Co. Cork has been no different. The weather has pushed back harvest & prices have gone up. Louise Denvir brings us this report.

Next Saturday the winner of Ireland's Farming for Nature award will be presented - a new non-profit award which aims to unearth & showcase the many stories across Ireland of farmers who are contributing to High Nature Value farming. Suzanne Campbell met with one of the six finalists, Tipperary farmer Sean Farrell.

We should leave the EU too & save us all the hassle according to Stuart Agnes, UKIP speaking on BBC Radio 4s Farming Today programme this week. Damien is joined in studio by former Fine Gael leader, Alan Dukes.