This week’s episode of Farmland, which will be broadcast tomorrow (Tuesday, May 24), discusses producing 100% of winter fodder requirements on farm, embracing change in the dairy sector and the issues facing the potato industry.
The programme which will go live at 7:00p.m tomorrow, will hear from Teagasc’s head of dairy knowledge transfer, Joe Patton, who discusses in detail a number of issues the dairy industry is experiencing.
He explains that due to the prohibitive costs and weak supply of alternatives, farmers must produce enough winter fodder on farm this year, and discusses how to prepare for this.
He also speaks to Agriland’s technical dairy specialist Brian McDonnell, about the latest recommendations from the Food Vision Dairy Group, urging farmers to embrace existing technologies such as the use of protected urea, sexed semen and milk recording.
As Ireland prepares to host the World Potato Congress this month, Agriland journalist Megan O’Brien travels to Finnegan’s potato farm in Co. Meath, to hear from Paul and Cathal Finnegan about their expanding enterprise and what issues the sector faces.
Meanwhile, Agriland editor Stella Meehan sits down with chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s Potato Committee, Sean Ryan in studio. Both the Finnegans and Ryan outline the high input costs growers in the sector are facing, chief among them fuel and electricity.
Ryan also discusses the costs that consumers often forget about, such as cold storage rooms for harvested potatoes which run constantly, and the heavy, daily use of machinery on potato farms.
Also on the programme, the Finnegans share how they meet these challenges and add value to their business by preparing ready meals and growing other seasonal crops such as Brussels sprouts and onions.
The latest episode and podcast of Farmland will go live tomorrow on the Agriland platform. All episodes can be streamed via the award-winning digital platform, agriland.ie, and links will also be available across Agriland social media platforms.
All episodes of Farmland can be viewed by clicking here.