Series 33
Programme 11 – 7:00pm Thursday 29th January, 2026
RTÉ One – Repeated Sunday 1st February, 2026
Derogation
Farmer Cheryl Poole milks 72 cows on her dairy farm in Co. Wexford. Deeply aware that the nitrates derogation will one day come to an end, she is already thinking about how her family farm can survive and be passed on to her children. Cheryl has already dedicated a quarter of her farm to nature.
While the recent derogation extension has brought some reassurance, it has also introduced new measures around water protection that farmers like Cheryl must carefully manage. Beyond her own land, Cheryl shares her passion for sustainability with the next generation, travelling to local schools to speak to students about farming, nature, and caring for the environment.
Hot School Meals
The hot school meals scheme provides funding to all primary schools across Ireland, meaning every pupil is eligible for a warm meal every day. But some rural schools with small pupil numbers are struggling to find providers while the scheme has attracted criticism around its nutritional value, lack of local sourcing and levels of waste.
Darragh Mc Cullough spent the day with Duhallow Community Food Services in Co Cork to see how they are delivering fresh hot meals cooked daily whilst sourcing from local suppliers and growers.
Acupuncture Vet
Whether to use holistic or conventional medicine for treating animals? “It’s not one or the other,” vet Jacqui O’Brien tells Ella Mc Sweeney, “it’s knowing when to use medicine or a holistic alternative when you are faced with an animal in pain.”
For years, this Meath based vet practised her skills in the conventional way of treating animals with prescription medication. But looking for a different approach, she trained as an animal acupuncturist and chiropractor, dealing mainly with horses.
Ella McSweeney spends the day with Jacqui seeing how acupuncture can help all kinds of horses from an elite racehorse with a sore leg, to a 34 year old pony feeling the aches and pains of his years.
Ear to the Ground is produced by indiepics for RTÉ.