The ZimmCast takes an Irish turn this week. I visited with agricultural journalist, Damien O’Reilly. Damien works for the Irish National Television and Radio Broadcaster, RTE where he hosts a weekly show called, “Countrywide.” The show is the evolution of “Farmweek” which was very production agriculture focused. The change in the show allows for more rural lifestyle content while still including farm information. Damien is seen interviewing Mandi McLeod, System Insights, Ltd., New Zealand, at the Alltech International Symposium. You can hear my interview with Mandi on our World Dairy Diary website btw.

Damien is just one of the many agricultural journalists I’ve had the pleasure to get to know through my involvement with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). I thought it might be interesting to talk with him about what he does and get his perspective on the technology changes in communications today, especially since he’s in the broadcasting business. He shares a good anecdote about an Irish farmer who had an impact on the food discussion in the country all because of one tweet on his Twitter account! He says that there is always a revolution in the media business and a need to keep up with new technology and that is always a challenge. I couldn’t agree more.

Listen in and learn more about agricultural journalism in Ireland: Irish Ag Journalism

You can listen to archived Countrywide shows that Damien has hosted on the RTE Radio 1 website.

This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “Racing Heart” by Joe Tunon.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

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