Hill sheep farmer Mary-Catherine Murphy lives in the hills above the highest village in Ireland, Roundwood in Co Wicklow. We find out how she fared during the cold snap.

Our regular reporter Diarmuid McIntyre lives near the Ballyhoura Mountains in Limerick. He bumped into John Hughes and Michael Nolan of Activo, working on behalf of the ESB, getting power back to some of his neighbours under very difficult conditions.

Countrywide visited a 16 acres Sitka plantation just outside Navan.

Forestry and Horticulture Junior Minister Michael Healy-Rae.

This winter, across Europe, poultry flocks have become infected with avian flu. So far, Ireland is disease-free. Superintending Veterinary Inspector at the Department of Agriculture, Audrey Jenkinson assesses the risk.

Countrywide Full Programme 25/01/2025

With only half of farms having a succession plan in place, and a cohort of young men and women dying for the chance to get farming but with no access to land, we explore farming partnerships in Westmeath.

We are in the middle of January and often the long dark winter nights can be challenging. Brenda Donohue wants to hear from people around the country with interesting ideas to have fun at this time of year.

Sailing clubs are supporting a unique project to restore native oysters in Dublin Bay, which is spearheaded by coffee distributor David Lawlor of the not-for-profit Green Ocean Foundation.

Spring is coming to the fertile lands of the Jordan Valley. Ollie Moore, a member of Talamh Beo, has just returned from visiting Palestinian farmers there.

With Pat O’Toole, political editor of the Irish Farmers Journal and Dr Cara Augustenborg, a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council.

Countrywide Full Episode 18/01/2024

Passing through east Galway, Countrywide called into Mill House Farm, a business which until last Friday operated almost entirely under polytunnels.

Storm Éowyn struck Roscommon just as Keith Brennan and his family were picking up the pieces from the last storm, as Keith explains in his letter from Hawthorn Hill Farm.

Countrywide met women from the Kerry Traveller Health and Community Development Project, which provides practical services, advocacy and support in areas like health, education and accommodation, and also helps build a sense of community.

Countrywide Full Episode 01/02/2025

Countrywide went to visit Farming for Nature Ambassador Bridget Murphy in Sligo. She speaks about the importance of neighbours as she wrestled with repairs to stone walls toppled by falling trees.

We check in with Keith Leonard of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group and with ESB Network Regional Manager Siobhan Wynne. We also hear from farmer Dinny Galvin and from Ray Ó Foghlú of the nature restoration charity Hometree.

Christophe Hansen is the new EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Food.

Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine Martin Heydon TD.

After a deer population increase in the last few years, the government appointed a strategy group in 2022. And just this week it awarded a management contract to a co-op to set up 15 local deer management units around the country.

Dr Olena Melnyk, Associate Professor at the University of Sumy in Ukraine.

Returning to our winter nights theme, and ahead of National Singing Week, Countrywide went to a rehearsal with the Claregalway Community Choir. www.singireland.ie

Countrywide Full Episode 08/02/2025

Dr Emma Dillon, Senior Researcher at Teagasc.

Alice Ward is a surfer and film maker based in Sligo. Together with João Tudella, she has made a film which has already won several awards. Entitled Salt and part-funded by Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, it aims to spread awareness about living life with her own CF condition, and the positive benefits she derives from spending time in the Atlantic.

Countrywide Full Episode 15/02/2025.

Countrywide speaks to trainer and former champion jockey Johnny Murtagh.

Since the first of the month, land owners have been allowed to spread slurry. Since the first of the year, the number of farms that have to do this in a way that reduces emissions has increased hugely.

In our series about what to get up to during these winter nights, we heard about the Blackrock Howlers, who gather once a month, under the full moon to chat, to swim, and as the name suggests, to howl.

John Daly is an economist, working with the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, which was established about ten years ago to foster regional development.

Elaine Houlihan is the 39th president of Macra Na Feirme, the Irish voluntary rural youth organisation.

Head of Veterinary Ireland, Hazell Mullins on realities of calving and dairy farming

Professor Frank O'Mara explains how the life of a calf born in 2005 differs from one born in 2025.

Founder and director of Silent Cinema Adam Scheffler on taking silent classics out to summer festivals in rural areas.

Farmers on financial stress of delays in Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme cheques.

Funeral director, Brídín McGowan on how music helps through grief.

Countrywide Full Episode 22/02/2025

Bloom opened to the public on Thursday, but the show gardeners hoping to win prizes have been here days in advance. And on Tuesday the judges saw the gardens for the first time. Then they saw them again on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning, Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates were awarded.

From next Saturday, Tidy Town judges will start visiting the 900 or so communities who have entered the competition. They will know not the day nor the hour when an incognito judge will turn up. Dr Christy Boylan is a long standing judge and trainer of judges of the Tidy Towns, at Bloom to share some inside knowledge.

Dunmore Country School in Durrow, County Laois has created a French 'potager' garden. Picture from https://www.dunmorecountryschool.ie/

Farming would grind to a halt were it not for a skilled, mobile and flexible relief workforce. But who are these men and women? What motivates them if their reward is not going to be a share in, or ownership of the farm they are working on?

Keith Brennan, who regularly shares his observations of life and nature on his family farm, has put the ups and downs of farming life to music.

Countrywide Full Episode 24.05.25

Beef and dairy farmers in Northern Ireland are enjoying the same kind of price boon their colleagues south of the border are getting. And this week just outside Belfast, the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society is running Balmoral Show.

Countrywide visited a 60-acre beef farm in Tullow Co Carlow, which is also a one-stop-shop for everything from Wagyu beef boxes to yoga, and their own country fashion clothing brand. Visit https://coppenaghfarm.ie/ for more information.

Ireland has an official scent, nominated by the government, for inclusion in a project to create a global archive of smells. A quarter century ago, the government decided that our official smell would be 'Burning Turf'. But we are now looking to update our signature scent. Cast your vote on https://worldsensorium.com/

Experts gathered this week in Ennistymon, Co Clare for the Hometree Changing Landscapes conference, exploring new ideas about nature conservation, including Junior Minister Healy-Rae’s proposal to plant trees on bogs.

Connecting Cabra Biodiversity Festival starts at 1pm today, to mark National Biodiversity Week.

Countrywide Full Episode 17/05/2025