Episode notes
On 26th of July, 75 years of waiting ended in Croke Park, and Sam Maguire is in Mayo at last. Stephen Coen has been chasing that day since he was seventeen, but he was named to start last month's final, and before throw-in, injury took him out of the squad on the day, but no one was more central to Mayo’s successful run than Coen. When he's not playing, Stephen farms cattle and sheep with his father Liam and his brother David outside the village of Hollymount. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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CountryWide
RTÉ Radio 1 · Tech & Science · English
The CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across Ireland. Listen live Saturdays at 8am on RTÉ Radio 1.
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5 Sep 2026 · 12 min
Do we need more drought-resistant pasture to adapt to hot and dry weather?
The creamery Tirlan surveyed 800 of its farmers last week – and over 80% of them said that they had already fed several week’s worth of what they should be feeding in December and January. And 90% said that there was barely any grass in their animal’s diet now. Head of Dairy Knowledge at the farming research agency Teagasc, Joe Patton joined the programme to share findings of a survey that gauged how deep the shortage of winter fodder is going to run this year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 Sep 2026 · 7 min
"If this summer happens again we'll gear up and maybe spend another half a million euro on another irrigation machinery."
This week, Countrywide reporter Della Kilroy visited Hickeys farm to meet father and son Martin and Gerard Hickey and find out how this summer’s weather has affected their crops, and what it means for the future of Irish vegetable growing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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5 Sep 2026 · 14 min
"There are some things we won't be able to change, so it is about adapting now for the future."
The number of farmers that have found themselves without water, or running low, or sitting on a sluggish well means that Harry and John Ellis – father and son team from Hacketstown Co Carlow are out the door with enquiries for drilling new wells. Dr Claire Bergin from the ICARUS Climate Centre in Maynooth University explained how the future of farming relies on how well farmers adapt to extremes of drought and floods. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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29 Aug 2026 · 13 min
Irish Horticulture Charter
Six of the country's biggest retailers - Aldi, Dunnes, Lidl, Marks and Spencer, SuperValu and Centra, and Tesco - have signed up to the principles of a new Horticulture Grower-Retail Charter. It arrives at a hard moment. Irish horticulture was worth €652 million at the farm gate last year. But the growers are disappearing. So how is the charter landing with the people who actually grow the food? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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29 Aug 2026 · 13 min
Hannah Page Fox
Grangecon is in the west of Wicklow, under the hills. Hannah Page Fox lives on a sheep and Christmas tree farm in Grangecon. A year ago, with nothing much to warn her, Hannah was told she had lobular breast cancer, and that it had already spread. The year since for Hannah has been medical. Ella met with Hannah during the week to hear how the farm has helped her get through. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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29 Aug 2026 · 12 min
Coffee Prices
Kate O'Sullivan is the new owner of café Pónaire in Newport, County Tipperary - a café at the front, and behind it a roastery that roasts every bean the business sells. Prices in Brazil for beans peaked early last year at nearly four and a half dollars a pound. It's eased since. But the warehouses are emptier than they've been in years, nobody in the trade will tell you where it goes next, and the cup you buy on the way to work has not got any cheaper. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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22 Aug 2026 · 13 min
Annacotty Weir in Limerick to be removed to restore natural river channel
Under the EU Nature restoration plan, Ireland must draw up an inventory of artificial barriers on its rivers and decide which of them will come out to restore at least 25,000 kilometers of free flowing rivers by 2030. One of these barriers is Annacotty weir in Limerick on the river Mulkear. Head of Inland Fisheries Ireland Hazel King joined us to tell us more. And some locals told Ella McSweeney their concerns. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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22 Aug 2026 · 20 min
How impactful are nature-based solutions to flooding?
Dr Mary Burke, geographer at Trinity College Dublin talked about her research SloWaters project that encourages farmers to slow the flow of water off their lands during heavy rains to reduce the risk of flooding downstream. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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22 Aug 2026 · 6 min
How has hot and dry weather impacted potato farming?
Journalist Hannah Quinn Mulligan met with potato farmer Donald Tracy in Kildare whose harvest has been reduced to half due to the hot and dry weather this year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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22 Aug 2026 · 5 min
Waterford's farmhouse cheesemaker gets a new neighbour: Mark Zuckerberg
Black water valley has a new resident, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Ella McSweeney spoke with a cheesemaker who lives a stone's throw away from his new residence. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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