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EAR TO THE GROUND

(47)Ear ToThe Ground presenter Helen Carroll with farmer James O'Brien, prog three, November 23rd(Farm Relief Services) Image Name: (47)Ear ToThe Ground presenter Helen Carroll with farmer James O'Brien, prog three, November 23rd(Farm Relief Services)
(47) Ear to the Ground prog three, Thursday November 23rd. Presenter Helen Carroll with relief milkers Jennifer Mathews and Josh Phelan (Farm Re Image Name: (47) Ear to the Ground prog three, Thursday November 23rd. Presenter Helen Carroll with relief milkers Jennifer Mathews and Josh Phelan (Farm Re
(47) Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll with Philip Kenny of Farm Relief Services (Programme three, Thursday November 23rd) Image Name: (47) Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll with Philip Kenny of Farm Relief Services (Programme three, Thursday November 23rd)
(47)Ear to the Ground presenter Ella McSweeney with tree specialist Thomas Pakenham(Prog three November 23rd) Image Name: (47)Ear to the Ground presenter Ella McSweeney with tree specialist Thomas Pakenham(Prog three November 23rd)

(47)Ear To The Ground (NEW – Series 25, Programme three)
Thursday 23rd November 2017
RTÉ One
8.30pm

FARM RELIEF SERVICES
The rapid expansion of Ireland’s dairy industry in the past few years has led to an acute shortage of skilled milkers, Helen Carroll discovers this week. Teagasc estimates that there will be 5000 extra trained staff needed to milk the country’s cows over the next ten years.

Could training unemployed or under employed people to work on dairy farms, so they can help out on a part time basis, be the solution? Farm Relief Services, a co-op in conjunction with Teagasc, is recruiting people in the South East and training them to help out local farmers.

Jennifer Mathews (29) returned from the UK to care for her father and was seeking part time work. She was among the first trainees to graduate from the course and is now helping to milk cows in Co Kilkenny with farmer James O Brien. “There is tons of flexibility, I can work whenever I want” she says of her new job milking 120 cows.” I was terrified of cows, they are such huge beasts” she says. But the training has taught her that they are very docile if handled well.

COOLATTIN WOOD
Coolattin Wood in Co.Wicklow was once, in its heyday, one of the best known Irish estates and supplied oak for the English naval fleet. This historic woodland once covered 85,000 acres but has been largely deforested since the 1970s, with many of the large oak trees being stripped out and sold as timber.

However, the new owners of 1,200 acres of the land are determined to restore their piece of Coolattin to its former glory. They have begun a replanting program and, with forestry management company Veon leading the project, 10,000 oak saplings have been planted over the last year.
Ella McSweeney goes to Wicklow to find out more about the revamping of Coolattin Wood. She meets Joe Codd from Veon, Forest Manager Tom O’Dwyer and tree specialist Thomas Packenham.

ENERGY IN AGRICULTURE
With carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reaching record levels, the pressure is on to cut carbon emissions worldwide. Ireland has committed to reduce our greenhouse gas levels by 2020, but with the exception of wind power, has not managed to get close to its targets for renewable energy use. Inevitably, this will mean fines of up to half a billion euros a year.

Agriculture contributes about a third of our total emissions, putting it firmly in the spotlight reports Darragh McCullough. But farmers could produce a wide range of alternative energy sources, from biogas to solar power, from wood chips to wind turbines.

Despite promises from Minister Denis Naughton, no incentives have been announced for the renewable heat sector, and farmers will be reluctant to invest without guaranteed returns for their energy crops. Farmers and renewable energy providers gathered in Gurteen College in Tipperary to find out what opportunities climate change may present.

Ear to the Ground is produced by Independent Pictures for RTÉ.

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