On tonight’s Ear to the Ground, Darragh McCullough meets the FBD Young Farmer of the Year, visits Newgrange and learns about salmon tagging.

Tonight’s episode is on RTE1 at 8.30pm.

During the summer Darragh took the opportunity to explore his home county of Meath and the surrounding countryside, fascinated by the Neolithic settlement of Newgrange.

There, at the designated World Heritage Site, Ear to the Ground finds out more about Ireland’s first farmers from guide, Clare Tuffy, and why it’s so important to carefully manage farming in the restricted area of the Cairn.

Darragh also meets the FBD Young farmer of the Year 2015, Jonathan Marry, a pig farmer on the side of the Boyne, and discovers what it’s like to farm intensively in such an ecologically and archaeologically sensitive area.

Ear to the Ground then moves to Dowth Hall, a 420ac estate bought two years ago by Owen Brennan and his family who are attempting to save both the land and the crumbling house.

Further along the Boyne at Oldcastle, Darragh meets Ross Kenny, an historian from Cork who designs boats for the TV series, Game of Thrones.

Finally, the journey ends at the Estuary in Drogheda where Ear to the Ground learns a new technologically advanced way to catch, tag, and release Salmon.