Subscribe to the Irish Farmers Journal’s weekly podcast on iTunes

The IFA protested outside the European Commission’s office in Dublin this Wednesday against the proposal to allow 70,000t of South American beef into the EU under a trade deal with the Mercosur bloc. Irish Farmers Journal reporter Hannah Quinn Mulligan was there.

Mercosur was one of the topics Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed discussed with dairy editor Jack Kennedy at the NDC and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards on Wednesday. They also talked about the Department of Agriculture’s underspend.

Livestock specialist Nathan Tuffy updates deputy news editor Caitriona Morrissey on the mart trade as we hit peak numbers.

Macra president James Healy discusses the findings of the CEJA survey of 1,000 European young farmers with news correspondent Thomas Hubert.

Thomas Hubert also attended a meeting on anaerobic digestion and biogas at Teagasc’s Ashtown campus on Tuesday. There, he met James Browne of Gas Networks Ireland, which is getting ready to inject biogas from farms into the national gas grid.

Irish Country Living’s consumer editor Ciara Leahy reports on the Blas na hEireann food awards and the challenge of a zero-km dinner serving only food produced within a 1km radius in Co Wicklow.

Missed the previous episodes of the podcast? Catch up here: www.farmersjournal.ie/podcast