Irish Farmers Journal podcasts

This week on Inside Dairy: Aidan, Daire and Brendan look at the drought situation across the country, with rainfall ranging from 98mm in parts of Carlow to as little as 5mm in the west. They discuss fodder budgeting, contract rearing, heifer prices and the latest dairy market news.Aidan also chats to Niall Maloney from Crecora, Co Limerick, winner of the 2025 Kinisla Milk Quality Awards, about his farm and milk quality.On The Breakdown, the team analyse the early scanning results from the 2026 breeding season, including embryo losses, the impact of weather and whether scanning results should influence culling decisions.Plus, the key things dairy farmers should be watching in the week ahead.Have a question or feedback? Email us at insidedairy@farmersjournal.ie or leave a comment on Spotify.Listen to Inside Dairy every Wednesday and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or at www.ifj.ie/podcasts.

From a young age Ben O’Connor always had a business mindset, at the age of 9 he started his first business venture selling firewood and Christmas ornaments in the local area. This inspired him to start a business called Giftery which supplied gift boxes. In two years, they sold 200,000 boxes and had 13 employees, he sold the business last October and used the money to develop an app called FarmFlow.While working on his home farm that converted from beef to dairy, Ben found there was nothing to help farmers manage people and daily tasks. He decided to develop his own app aimed at cutting down paperwork and simplifying management on farms.Currently waiting for his GCSE results this Thursday, Ben discusses what it’s like to be a young entrepreneur and his hopes for the future.

Down to Agribusiness: Butter battles, ABP deal and FBD’s millionsDescription: On this week’s show, Stephen and Lorcan discuss the Tirlán-Ornua butter battle, ABP’s UK acquisition, and take a closer look at FBD Trust’s investment success.

This week, Aidan and panel review this year’s Tullamore Show, discuss live exports, the outlook for organic land, dairy farmers dealing with drought and livestock trade. Darren also chats to Peter Linden from Grassland AGRO on fertiliser use in dry weather.We welcome any feedback and questions you have for the Farm Tech Talk team. Please email farmtechtalk@farmersjournal.ie or send a text or voice note to our WhatsApp number 086 836 6465Click here if you would like a weekly email notification when Farm Talk is released https://share-eu1.hsforms.com/1LkIraRklQcK5mClBGXTpFgets9e

On this week’s show we have a harvest report, look at the Straw Incorporation measure budget. Neil Brady from Oatier talks supporting Irish oats and Alex Nicholls from Corteva describes some Pioneer oilseed rape varieties. As always, we have the grain trends and weather reports and this week we announce the winners of the 250th Tillage Podcast competition. The Tillage Podcast is supported by Bayer Crop Science.

 Inside the Farmers Journal: drought costing farmers millions and Tullamore ShowDescription: This week, we hear about the drought is impacting farmers and from the Taoiseach and agriculture minister at Tullamore Show.

The drought continues to put huge pressure on dairy farms, with grass growth, milk solids and winter feed all under strain. This week on Inside Dairy, Aidan Brennan and Brendan Horan discuss the latest weather developments, dairy markets and the potential impact of new carbon taxes on fertiliser prices.We also hear from Kilkenny dairy farmer Paul Bowden about the reality of farming through the drought, before looking at culling cows, feed costs and the key management decisions farmers should be making now.https://ifj.supportingcast.fm/insidedairy

As the dust begins to settle, Sarah McIntosh and Marty Merrick sit down and reflect on a successful Tullamore Show. They discuss their stand out moments along with giving advice for students about to receive their Leaving Certificate results at the end of the month.Our main guest is Wexford native Méabh Byrne who was one of five Women in Agriculture Ambassador finalists. The 24-year-old from comes from a busy dairy and tillage farm and has a passion for animal care that started young. She works as a farm manager advisor with DeLaval while staying active on the family farm which she is now the herd owner. Méabh encourages listeners to have the succession conversation early and back yourself.