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00:00...with fishermen who are reeling from proposals to cut the macro quota.
00:04I've already taken a 60-70% cut in the past 10 years
00:08and now you want to cut me another 70%
00:10we'll be left with a little or nothing.
00:12Ella meets a brave Kilkenny farmer threatened by trespassers on his land.
00:16When I arrived and engaged in conversation with them
00:20I then realised it might have been a mistake.
00:23And Dara is in Waterford learning how artificial intelligence is transforming farming.
00:28Should be 115 days ago. There it is now on the screen.
00:32115.2 days.
00:35For as long as people have owned land, there's been the challenge of others coming onto it without permission.
00:49But in recent years, some farmers say that the scale, and sometimes the troubling nature, of these incursions has grown, becoming a genuine worry in rural communities.
01:03In Kilkenny, beef and sheep farmer Edward Butler from Danesford has been feeling the impact first hand.
01:21We've always had a problem with trespassing, but aggressive trespassing is a new thing.
01:27In the last two years, there has been an increase and also an increase in the aggressive nature of the trespassers.
01:35What are they doing on your land?
01:37We're coming across large groups that are letting dogs loose and they're hunting any form of wildlife that they can come across.
01:43And they're now coming to the stage where they're actually deliberately targeting sheep.
01:52In November 2023, an incident took things to an entirely new level for Edward.
02:00Nothing prepared me for what I saw.
02:03I found eight men in an 11-acre field with the sheep cornered in one end of the field, with eight dogs being blooded on the sheep.
02:12What does that mean, being blooded?
02:14In order to encourage the dogs to kill and be more effective at killing, they have to get the taste of blood.
02:20And on this occasion, they were using the pregnant yews as the blooded animal.
02:26I had horrendous losses. Sheep torn. Some of those sheep, when they land afterwards, the lambs weren't able to drink because the teats had been bitten off the oars.
02:38Several animals were left with serious injuries, and one was killed.
02:44In the aftermath, Edward moved his sheep nearer the farmyard to keep a closer eye on them.
02:51Just over two months later, while I was feeding the cattle early in the morning, I spotted three men coming with dogs from the sheep field again.
03:00Edward headed straight down to the field.
03:04He'd only recently fitted a dash cam to his vehicle.
03:10I was more concerned about the animals on the way up than actually meeting the individuals.
03:17Did you have any concerns about your own safety?
03:21When I arrived and I engaged in a conversation with them, I then realised it might have been a mistake.
03:29What did you say to them when you got out of the car?
03:38I told them that you're trespassing.
03:41What did they say back?
03:42They said that they were going to hunt here every week, and there was nothing I could do about it.
03:49They got extremely aggressive, and I said that I was going to call the guards.
03:54And then you can see him shouting and shouting at you and pointing his finger at you as well.
03:59What was he saying?
04:00At that stage, he said that he was going to kill me and bury me in the field.
04:03And what was going through your head at that stage?
04:08I realised that I was in a situation that I wasn't going to get out of too easy.
04:14But I kept talking, and as you can see, I tried to get over the gate and swung at me, backed up by the other two.
04:25And eventually one of them came over the gate after me.
04:29I reversed to the jeep and I informed them that there was a dashcam recording everything.
04:35And it was only then they retreated.
04:38In situations like this, Gardaí advised people to report what's happened and to avoid approaching or engaging directly.
04:50That's very good advice.
04:52But unfortunately, if you don't approach them, you can't identify them.
04:57And if you can't identify them, you can't stop it.
05:00Following a trial last July, one man was found guilty of trespass and threatening behaviour.
05:07He was handed a four-year sentence, with the final 18 months suspended.
05:15Since then, Edward has stepped up security measures around the farm at a cost of close to €2,000.
05:22It's the phone to move the camera.
05:24In September, Superintendent Michael Corbett became Ireland's first rural crime lead.
05:29It's very clear there now, very good.
05:31While clear figures on rural crime remain hard to pin down, largely due to the way incidences are recorded,
05:38his appointment is viewed as a recognition that trespass has become a real issue for farming communities.
05:45There seems to have been an increase in it since COVID.
05:48We seem to see more of these persons coming out.
05:51They're hunting, like not alone are they hunting rabbits, they're hunting hares.
05:54In some instances, we have instances of where people are digging out foxes and badgers.
05:59You know, some of it is just really barbaric.
06:03Do you think that the current law around trespass is enough to stop these crimes from happening?
06:09Yeah, I suppose the main two sections of legislation that cover trespass currently are section 11 and section 13 of the Public Order Act 1994.
06:19And they primarily are around buildings and the cartilage of buildings.
06:23So they don't really extend out to farmland.
06:26So I suppose there's definitely room there to improve the legislation around the area of trespassing on farmland.
06:32Do you have a dedicated team and a dedicated budget for this rural crime unit?
06:38No, Ella. Look, this is a starting point and I suppose what I'd be hoping is that this role will grow in the future
06:46and possibly down the road get a foothold as regards maybe possibly a unit and that as regards allocating resources,
06:53it's important that people report the crime because if they don't report it, we can't investigate it
06:58and then you can't allocate resources to preventing it or to detecting it.
07:03In September, a private member's bill was brought before the Dáil to amend the 1994 Public Order Act
07:11so that all farmland would be included within its scope.
07:16Since the court case, Edward has faced five further incidences of trespass,
07:22the latest leading to the loss of two sheep.
07:25It's left him feeling that any new legislation will need to go further if it's to offer real protection for farmers.
07:33So what changes in the legislation around trespass do you think would help you?
07:39Reverse the onus on the trespasser. Get him or her to prove that they had permission.
07:45Allow the guards would have changed the legislation to catch the individuals on farmland
07:51and ask them had they permission or whose land they were on.
07:55And failure to do so, find them on the spot. Remove the farmers from the equation.
08:02We shouldn't be the last line of defence for the wildlife and the cruelty that's happening across the country.
08:08The legislation needs to be changed in order to prevent this continuing.
08:14That's it for part one. Coming up after the break,
08:20macro stocks and fishermen in crisis.
08:23We estimate that we will lose 2,600 jobs next year. This goes ahead.
08:27And transforming farming with artificial intelligence.
08:30The Irish fishing fleet catches around 80 million euros worth of mackerel every year, making it the most valuable fish landed here.
08:47But once again, scientists are warning that stock levels are dangerously low and that the numbers being caught need to be drastically reduced.
08:56Kelly Beggs is the largest fishing port in the country.
09:02Martín Áine Ó Canígla is based here and, like all Irish skippers, is required by law to keep a record off his catch.
09:10I fill out my logbook before midnight every night. I give four hours notice before I return to harbour to the authorities, telling them how much fish I have on board, what time I'm offloading, so that they can be ready waiting for me at the pier.
09:24And then if they do an inspection at the port, I assume whatever you have on board there.
09:29Yes, the fish on board must reflect what you have hailed coming ashore. Otherwise, you're in trouble.
09:37After Brexit, Ireland permanently lost 26% of its macro quota and 39 large-scale fisheries vessels were decommissioned, leaving just 230 such boats in the Irish fleet.
09:52I'll spin it back now again, Victor, all right?
09:55Martín Áine's trawler, Ríot Áire, is one of those still fishing.
09:59Do you come from a fishing family?
10:01Oh, yeah. My father was a fisherman. He comes from generations of fishermen. Island people, that's all we knew. You know, it's our DNA. It's our identity.
10:12As a result of Brexit and other quota cuts, over the last decade, skippers like Martín have seen their catch sizes vastly lower.
10:21How much mackerel would you have been fishing versus today?
10:26Ten years ago, a vessel of this size, we would have probably had a quota of anywhere between 600 to 700 tons of mackerel.
10:34And it would have taken us, you know, a month or two to catch that amount of fish. Over the past 10 years, it's been cut, been cut. In 2025, I was down to roughly 250 tons of mackerel. It's a huge cut over a short period of time.
10:50But those cuts look set to continue. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, or ICES, is an intergovernmental body which provides impartial, science-based advice to the EU on fish stocks.
11:05It has recommended a 70% reduction in the mackerel quota for 2026. Part of the research that has led to that decision is carried out by the Irish Marine Institute.
11:18What's happening to mackerel numbers in our waters?
11:21The stock size has been declining for pretty much the last decade. This year's assessment shows a concerning characteristic now because it's now declined below a point where we consider that the stock has impaired reproductive capacity.
11:36This is exacerbated by the fact that the advice that ICES has issued over this time has been exceeded by, on average, about 40%. And that's because there hasn't been an agreement between the parties that fish mackerel on how to share the catches.
11:50If the advice had been adhered to, there would be another potentially 2 million tons of fish in the water now. That's the level of overcatch over the last 10 years.
11:58Irish boats must adhere to EU fishing quotas. But boats from so-called third countries also fish these shared waters.
12:10A. O'Donnell is CEO of the Irish Fish Producers Organization.
12:14Do you accept the science that macro stocks are under pressure?
12:17We don't agree with all of the science all of the time, but the scientists measure the quality and the quantity and the sustainability of the stocks.
12:25So we accept the science, but in accepting the science, we're paying the price for those who don't.
12:30It's basically driven by overfishing by a number of non-EU states.
12:35Norway, Iceland, Faroes, they've overfished the stock by up to 40% above the science.
12:41In five years alone, the Norwegians have caught 1 million tons of mackerel above the scientific recommendations.
12:46So we're being penalized for the overfishing of others.
12:49Norwegian fishing organizations say they are fishing what is rightfully theirs.
12:56Prior to 2021, there was a sharing arrangement for mackerel involving Norway, the Faroe Islands and the EU.
13:04But no new arrangement has been agreed since.
13:07Are you making plans for a 70% reduction?
13:11I'm looking towards trying to diversify possibly to other species.
13:17It might ease some pressure for me, but I'm putting more pressure on another vessel because I want to take part in his fishery.
13:26The reality is that this will lead to major job losses, both onshore and offshore.
13:32We estimate that we will lose 2,600 jobs next year if this goes ahead.
13:36The boats, for their part, will fish for one to two weeks per year.
13:40Then they have to tie up.
13:42The 70% cut to mackerel isn't the only one being called for.
13:46ICES is also recommending a 41% cut to blue whiting and a 22% cut to boarfish, a species cut for fish meal.
13:56These proposals will impact Ireland more than any other EU member state and could be approved at the EU's fishery council this month.
14:05This will probably go down to the 11th hour.
14:09Like Brexit, I'll probably get news on Christmas Eve telling me what my quota will be for the following year.
14:16I'm seriously worried because the main thing for me is can I make my repayments?
14:22Is there enough there for my crew?
14:24Is there enough there for my family?
14:26There are so many things at play.
14:28It's very serious times ahead.
14:31So what can be done about this?
14:33It's simple.
14:33We've got to push at the highest levels politically for Europe to impose sanctions against these people who are failing to comply with the science.
14:44We have the richest waters in Europe, but we need to protect it.
14:47We need to defend it.
14:48We have the markets.
14:50We have the factories.
14:51We have the fleets.
14:52But this needs to be protected and defended.
14:56We've been looking at a decline in macro numbers for the past 10 years.
14:59What happens if the 70% cut in the quota doesn't work?
15:04Then the advice will fall further.
15:07Ultimately, that's what will happen.
15:08If the stock remains below its limit point, the advice will fall further and potentially to zero.
15:14However, mackerel has been at this level before and has recovered.
15:19So there's no reason to think that it won't.
15:21Fishermen like Marcin have endured a difficult time since Brexit.
15:28Unless an agreement between the EU and third countries on fishing quotas in the North East Atlantic can be reached, that's not likely to change.
15:37I have no intention of getting out of the industry.
15:40I love the industry.
15:41I'm passionate about it.
15:43The greatest satisfaction I get out of fishing is bringing fish home to my family and see my kids make smile on their face.
15:51You know, that's very important to me.
15:53As an islander, as a coastal man, we need to preserve that.
16:00You know?
16:00First it was regulations, then it was paperwork.
16:09Now farmers find themselves drowning in data.
16:13But artificial intelligence is starting to make sense of all the endless info and helping farmers make the right decision every time.
16:22On this 300-acre farm in County Waterford, Patsy O'Hearn keeps one of the most productive dairy herds in the country.
16:31All 240 cows wear collars, fitted with sensors which tell Patsy and his farm manager, Ross Crow, about the health and well-being of the herd.
16:41The majority should be pregnant.
16:43But for six animals, the collars are indicating otherwise.
16:46The collars have flagged up a number of cows that suspected loss of pregnancy, so we just want to make sure that they're still in calf so we can make a decision.
16:55It's just a double-check, really.
16:56It's no point in carrying an empty cow through the winter and finding out in February that she hasn't got a calf, so.
17:02Patsy operates a spring calving system.
17:05His cows need to give birth between the beginning of February and the end of March so they can graze the best grass for as long as possible.
17:13If they're not pregnant now, they're going to be cold, right?
17:15They will be cold.
17:17Do you just want to keep animals that are earning their keep by producing milk?
17:20Absolutely.
17:21We want to keep animals that have a future, i.e. they're young enough, they're pregnant, and they'll produce.
17:27But an empty animal, their career is over and they have to be cold.
17:32Dr. Dan Ryan is a reproductive physiologist who has been scanning cows for over 40 years.
17:39This herd was scanned by him at different times over the last six months.
17:42Today, he's returning to give Patsy clarity on whether these six animals are in fact pregnant, and more importantly, when they will calve.
17:51So today we need to find out what's...
17:54Today is D-Day.
17:55Okay.
17:55Does she stay or does she go?
17:57Okay, here we go.
17:58So today, Dan is scanning using artificial intelligence to enhance the ultrasound technology.
18:05This innovation, developed by Dan himself, aims to give more accurate information to the farmer.
18:11I have a screen in front of me on your mobile phone.
18:17I can see this, yeah.
18:17It's like the same thing.
18:18Yeah.
18:19Now, that's the head of the fetus.
18:21Now, the machine is actually aging that pregnancy.
18:24Should be 115 days ago.
18:27There it is now on the screen.
18:28Yeah, 115.
18:29115.2 days, Dara.
18:31Yeah.
18:32Artificial intelligence is actually taking the data as the cow is being scanned, interpreting that data in real time.
18:40You know, you have a lot of people that will come in and scan that cow and say she's five months pregnant, three months pregnant.
18:45Whereas this removes that subjectivity.
18:49Confirmation of pregnancy can be done with standard scanning.
18:52But this AI-driven tech claims to predict accurate calving dates, information that's vital in modern dairying.
19:00Based on the scan, this cow is due to give birth just on the edge of Patsy's calving window.
19:07First of April means, it's hugely different to the 15th of April, let's say.
19:12You know what I mean?
19:13And look, for the animal herself, if she calms the first of April, she may stay in the herd.
19:18If she's later, she won't be staying yet.
19:20Would you have been able to age that pregnancy as well as the artificial intelligence here in the phone?
19:26You would be able to age it maybe to, again, 15 days of its true age.
19:32But from the perspective of the farmer, wanting to know a calving date, that's not sufficiently accurate.
19:38And that's the problem in the industry.
19:41This will give you precision.
19:43Dan's technology, called ScanInsights, uses artificial intelligence to review over two and a half million historic ultrasounds and data from Irish cows.
19:54As he scans the next cow, the AI-driven algorithm cross-references those files to identify patterns and should make more accurate predictions.
20:04The previous scan, I have up in front of my screen, that she was scanned 42 days pregnant.
20:11Now, we just go in and immediately the machine is turning around.
20:16We want to try and get the data, some of the data to come up now.
20:20There's the snout of the calf coming up.
20:22Yeah, and it's ageing it to 166 days.
20:26As Dan moves the probe around inside the cow, the AI can cross-reference more images and data and reassess its initial calculation.
20:36There's 173 days on the base of the foot and the snout of the calf.
20:40You've loads of experience. Surely you can tell a pregnancy just as good as this.
20:44But if you're only dealing with the foot of the calf appearing on the scan, how can one age that accurately based on the size of that foot or the level of bone tissue that's in that foot?
20:57Artificial intelligence takes the 2.5 million scans that we have in the library that has built this artificial intelligence.
21:05That is beyond my ability to age pregnancy.
21:08Artificial intelligence is already helping Irish farmers to process vast amounts of data and improve decision-making on everything from how to treat a sick animal to the correct spraying of herbicides.
21:23One such advancement is digital twinning, where AI-driven virtual farms replicate real farms.
21:31Dr. Donna Berry, Senior Principal Research Officer with Chagask, believes this advancement is set to transform the sector.
21:39It allows you to, for want of a better word, play around with what you're doing.
21:43So increase the grass allowance, reduce the concentrate feeding, a menu of different options, and you can look at the impact that will have on the individual cow, at the system, at the environmental level.
21:53And it enables you then to determine what is your best course of action.
21:58Farmers spend a huge amount of their time doing repetitive tasks, milking cows, herding cows, measuring grass.
22:05Artificial intelligence can remove a lot of that away from the farmers' day-to-day life, so they can actually focus a lot more strategically on where they're going to go in the next 10 years.
22:15In the here and now, artificial intelligence is already proving its worth.
22:20Use us goods straight away.
22:22Okay, pregnancy.
22:23So we've got a pregnancy, and they're the legs of the fetus.
22:26Every farming generation has experienced technological change.
22:30Now, that pace of change is unprecedented.
22:35115.2 days.
22:36That's just with the snout of the calf.
22:38That's great to see things coming on, because nobody wants their family going back to do the kind of work that some of us did when we were younger.
22:48And for the industry to attract people into it, we need technology, and we need AI to replace some of the physical work and make life better.
22:59I don't know what the future holds, but it could be very different.
23:06That's it for this program.
23:08Next week on Ear to the Ground, I'll be finding out what the recent outbreak of blue-tongued in Northern Ireland means for Irish farming.
23:17Dara will be taking a dip off the coast of Waterford.
23:20There's a reason why people don't feel this on a Sunday morning.
23:24Before relaxing in a brand new off-farm venture.
23:28Ella will be in Kilkenny, playing elf to a farmer turned toy maker.
23:33How big an object can you scan?
23:34I could scan you if I wanted to scan you as far as, yeah.
23:37Don't forget that this program will be repeated on Sunday at lunchtime after the farming weather.
23:42You can contact us on Facebook and follow us on X, and you can hear more farming stories on Countrywide this Saturday morning on RTE Radio 1.
23:52See you guys later.
23:57I'll see you next time.
23:59Bye-bye.
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