Laois man features in new series of popular RTÉ show

A Laois farmer features in the first edition of the new series of RTÉ’s popular farming and rural affairs programme, Ear to the Ground, which is back for its 30th run.

In Episode 1 Darragh McCullough investigates whether farming can really meet its short-term emissions targets without reducing the national herd. Ella McSweeney takes a closer look at the Green Beetle and Helen Carroll visits a Solar Farm in Co Cork.  

Episode one of Ear to the Ground asks if can farming really meet its short-term emissions targets without reducing the national herd and if so where is the roadmap to achieve that?

Bruce Thompson is a successful dairy farmer in Co Laois who features in episode one. The show explains how he practices the most technical offsetting measures to help in the farming sector reduce emissions by 25% by 2030 to help stem global warming.

But Darragh McCullough finds out that even Bruce can only reach 14% reduction without reducing his herd. A move he's not prepared to make voluntarily.

The Green Beetle also features. The producers say nature based solutions are increasingly being used throughout agriculture to solve common farming problems. Docks are native plants which are very common across Ireland. But they can be problematic for farmers, who frequently use herbicides to kill them.

Ella McSweeney meets Louis and Siobhan Ward who farm in Mayo and are championing an alternative approach...by breeding the native green dock beetle and selling them to farmers to use to replace herbicide.

The third item in episode one is Solar Farming;

With over 42% of Ireland's Renewable energy comes from onshore Wind farming, but when it comes to harnessing
the power of the sun, we are lagging behind. But some farmers are embracing the prospects of farming energy alongside their crops and animals.

Helen Carroll meets Michael Quirke from Aghada in Co. Cork to see his mixed farming enterprise. She walked the fields where barley once grew but is now home to over 10,000 solar panels with the capacity to power over a thousand homes and saving over 4,000 tonnes of Carbon.

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This season Ear to the Ground will explore the issues, challenges and opportunities facing Irish farmers and rural
dwellers.

Ear to the Ground is produced by indiepics for RTÉ and is broadcast from the 7th of November through until March.

Programme one will be broadcast on Thursday, November 3 on RTÉ One - 7pm. It's repeated on Sunday at 1.10pm.