Ella Mcsweeney's Posts

#brussels #parisattacks #refugeecrisis #refugees #brusselsattacks #Molenbeek

#brussels #parisattacks #afghanistan #refugeecrisis #refugees

Wendell Berry reads part of Welsh poet RS Thomas' poem "Lore" #wendellberry #rsthomas #ellamcsweeney #farming #poetry #poems #wales

Wendell Berry reads his poem "The Peace of Wild Things" while sitting in his house in Henry County, Kentucky. Recorded as part of BBC Radio 4 doc on Berry for The Food Programe - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b066tk2c #wendellberry #kentucky #poetry #poems #farming #food #ellamcsweeney #bbc #bbcradio4 #fooodprogramme

Wendell Berry has been described as 'An American Hero' but his work and teaching have inspired and influenced leaders, writers and campaigners around the world. Ella McSweeney had no hesitation in choosing him as her 'Food Hero' and travels to meet him at his farm in Kentucky. She explains why his work affected her so profoundly, even thousands of miles away in Ireland. As a leading and respected farmer, writer, campaigner, philosopher and poet, he wrote that "Eating is an agricultural act" yet argues we have become disconnected from the land by the industrialisation of the food chain, that the growth of agribusiness has driven many small farms out of business with a loss of their 'moral fibre and wisdom' and is destroying rural communities. He argues we must acknowledge the impact of agriculture to society. Yet despite his widespread influence he lives at a different pace to the majority - using horses to work the land and refusing to get a computer. For those unfamiliar with his work Ella will expl

sound of weanling sale at ballina mart, co. mayo

Ella hears from the Irish who are involved in the food business in New York - Pat Coleman who runs Food Ireland near the Bronnx. #rtecountrywide #rteradio1 #rte #radio #newyork #irishfood #ireland #irish #farming #food #butter #foodireland #ellamcsweeney #damienoreilly

#ireland #irish #pigs #pig #food #farming #irishfarming #irishfarmers #carlow #irishpigsociety #irishpigs #breed #pig #pork #rte #rteradio #rteradio1 #countrywide #rtecountrywide #damienoreilly #ellamcsweeney

Ella meets dairy farmer & cheese producer Keeley Mc Garr of Keeley's Cheese Company in New York (www.keeleyscheeseco.com) and hears how Ireland inspired her, and how @cornell university is helping her develop her products. (For RTE Radio 1's Countrywide)

With rising levels of obesity in Ireland, particularly among younger people, should a fast food restaurant be allowed to be built beside a school? That's the question that residents of Navan are facing with the news that a fast food outlet has been given planning permission beside a secondary and primary school in the town, despite objections by both schools and the HSE, among others. The principal of St Joseph's school has now appealed to An Bord Pleanala. The development will bring with it 40 jobs and there are people who support it. Ella McSweeney travelled to Navan to hear from all sides… RTE Radio 1's Countrywide #rte #rteradio #radio #obesity #schools #fastfood

Charles Smith set up 'Farmers to Market' - a collective of 12 commercial free-range chicken farmers in Monaghan and Cavan. But in

Kildare farmer Paul Brophy is a commercial broccoli grower. Here he shows Ella McSweeney how his broccoli is grown, harvested and packaged, and explains why the future of vegetable growing in Ireland is about scale.

19th century (anon) Irish poem that references fraughans, as read by Ed Hick

Report for BBC Farming Today with contributions from Teagasc head, Prof Gerry Boyle, and Roscommon farmer Brian Costello #bbcradio4 #farmingtoday #bbcradio #bbc #ellamcsweeney #farming #food #dairy #cows #milk #farm #uk #ireland #roscommon #land #teagasc #farmers #milkquotas #capreform #cap

Presented by Ella McSweeney. By 2050 the population of the world is expected to grow to over 9 billion and proponents of "vertical farming" believe growing food in cities would use less land and resources than traditional outdoor methods, reduce transport costs and fossil-fuel emissions. As vertical farms start to spring up in Sweden, Vancouver and the Netherlands, Ella McSweeney investigates whether they could provide a cost-effective solution that will increase yields or if it is just another example of head in the clouds utopian thinking. Prod: Clare Walker. #bbcradio4 #bbc #farming #food #verticalfarming #manchester #netherlands #cornell #columbia #newyork #bbcradio #ellamcsweeney

Bacteria aren’t always fussy about where to settle down and multiply; the gut of a human, a pig or a cow will do nicely. But they’re not the only thing we share with farm animals. When the bacteria turn nasty, we use many of the same antibiotics to treat our infections. We know that antibiotic resistance is a problem. “One of the most serious public health challenges we face”, says the head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control, Dr Marc Sprenger. Hardly a surprise, given that it kills 25,000 Europeans each year. The European Commission wants to do something about this. They published a plan in 2011. Half of the actions address use of antibiotics on farms. But it turns out that we know little about antibiotic use on Irish farms, because the Department of Agriculture does not collect the information. Ella McSweeney has written on this issue for the Irish Times (below) and she joined RTE Radio 1's Pat Kenny to discuss... Irish Times article - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/f

Ex-Department vet, Paddy Kirwan, says that Veterinary Ireland (the representative body for vets) called on Department of Agriculture to set up a centralised database of horses in Ireland back in 2010.

Ireland's Chief Veterinary Officer, Martin Blake, tells Damien O'Reilly on RTE's Countrywide that the Department of Agriculture does not know the number of horses in the country.

Tullamore beef farmer John Cleary expresses his shock and anger about the recent horseburger saga in Ireland