The Irish Farmers Journal is delighted to announce that it will begin a 12-month sponsorship of RTÉ Radio 1’s Countrywide agricultural affairs programme from this Saturday 17 October.

Countrywide is on air every Saturday morning on RTÉ Radio 1 from 8am to 9am, presented by Damien O’Reilly.

The sponsorship announcement coincides with the publication of the Irish Farmers Journal's latest readership figures which shows the title now has 295,900 weekly print readers on the island of Ireland.

This is the highest print readership figure reported by the newspaper in the past 20 years.

The figure, which comes from global organisation Kantar Media's TGI Readership Survey 2020, reinforces the Irish Farmers Journal's position as the most-read agricultural publication across Ireland and the UK.

Irish Farmers Journal editor and CEO Justin McCarthy said: “This is a really exciting partnership for the Irish Farmers Journal on the back of strong circulation and readership growth this year.

"We remain focused on producing high-quality unique content and communicating this message through targeted platforms such as RTÉ's Countrywide.”

Radio and audio sponsorship manager at RTÉ Media Sales Tara Farrell said: “RTE Media Sales are delighted to announce the Irish Farmers Journal as the new sponsor of RTE Radio 1's Countrywide.

"Given the natural synergy between both brands, we are confident Countrywide's 220,000(*) listenership will deliver a highly effective platform for the Irish Farmers Journal to communicate directly with its readers.”

Irish Farmers Journal circulation and marketing manager Jamie Leonard said: “This is a really exciting period for the Irish Farmers Journal with print readership now at a 20-year high.

"Our sustained circulation growth enabled us to make a strategic brand investment in sponsoring RTÉ Radio 1’s Countrywide programme.

"RTÉ's Countrywide shines a spotlight on the issues facing both farmers and those living in rural Ireland every week and it’s a perfect fit for the Irish Farmers Journal.”