CountryWide Podcast
1) Why are modern tractors so big?
Charles Hutchenson from Armstrong Machinery answers the question frequently asked by Countrywide’s listeners.
2) Richard Lovell Edgeworth
In the 18th century, the father of the author Maria Edgeworth from Longford was the inventor of many agri-mechanical innovations still in use today.
3) Countrywide Full Episode 31/01/2026
Countrywide Full Episode 31/01/2026
4) Safety around farm machinery
40% of workplace fatalities happen on farms. Half of those involve machinery. Suzanne Campbell accompanies a HSA inspector doing a farm safety audit.
5) Farm Machinery Sector
Ireland’s farm machinery sector is an unsung economic dynamo, creating nearly as much wealth as the tourist industry and a value to the economy of almost €5bn. Simon Cross from Cross Agri-Engineering ...Show More
6) Seamus O’Rourke: Leaning On Gates
An excerpt from Seamus’s memoir Leaning On Gates about what “innovating” with tractors in the eighties.
7) Tractor collector Kieran Geoghegan
The 91-year old farmer from Westmeath still gets out on his Massey Ferguson 165 every day to do jobs around the yard.
8) Inshore trawling ban
Owners of large vessels are going to court to have the ban overturned, meanwhile owners of small vessels support it. Lorna Siggins with Donegal trawlerman John Menarry. Dr Simon Berrow assesses if it ...Show More
9) Not so stupid cows
Austrian dairy cow Veronika has taught herself how to use a tool. The scientists who studied her say that bovine intelligence needs to be reappraised.
10) Price of a pint
As the price of a pint rises above €10 in some places, how much of that do barley growers get? David Walsh-Kemmis, Ballykilcavan Brewery discusses.