Farmland birds, farming and football and vintage tractors will be the focus of tonight’s episode of Ear to the Ground.
Farmland birds
The dramatic decline of farmland bird populations such as the yellowhammer and curlew have shone the spotlight on farming’s impact on biodiversity.
Ella McSweeney meets a tillage farmer in Cork creating a haven for birds.
Plus, she speaks to ICMSA president, Pat McCormack, about how ecological pressures could impact reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP).
Farming and football
Daniel Davey leads two very different lives. In one, he is a sheep farmer in rural Sligo, and in the other, he is the high-flying performance nutritionist with the Dublin senior footballers and with the Leinster Rugby Team.
So how does he balance the two? Helen Carroll went to Chaffpool near Tubbercurry, where Daniel farms in partnership with his father Peter, to find out more about his farming ways, but also about how a teenage fascination with animal nutrition became a career.
Vintage tractors
Massey is Classy – but the Zetor is better. Everyone has their favourite tractor brand. But Covid-19 has deprived the farming community of social events like tractor runs and vintage shows.
Darragh McCullough visits two collectors to get under the hood of our national love for vintage and classic tractors.
Ear to the Ground
Tune into Ear to the Ground at 7pm tonight (Thursday, January 14th, 2021) on RTÉ 1.
