CountryWide

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.