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This week the IFA organised a protest outside civic offices in Athlone to coincide with the OPW public consultation on the Shannon Catchment flood risk assessment and management plan (CFRAM). Irish Farmers Journal reporter Kate Donohue caught up with IFA president Joe Healy to ask why farmers were protesting.

Kate also spoke with farmers from Athlone and the midlands about their views on the flooding plans and the impact last winter's floods had on them.

Northern Irish news correspondent Peter McCann recently visited Anthony McColgan, a Donegal farmer who has been forced to house his cattle in recent weeks due to continuous bad weather.

European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan was at the Virginia Show and discussed the latest EU developments in farming news with Irish Farmers Journal reporter Anthony Jordan.

At the launch of a joint initiative against farmyard thefts with the IFA, Gardaí, Crimestoppers and DoneDeal, garda detective Eugene O'Sullivan told reporters how his force goes about tracking down stolen machinery.

Last week, www.farmersjournal.ie broke the news that Larry Goodman’s ABP has decided to initiate an opt-in rather than opt-out system for levy collection from farmers.

In order to gauge the mood of the country following the news, Odile Evans spoke to David Quinn, manager of Carnew mart, while Ciaran Lenehan spoke to beef farmers Fintan Maher, John Dunne and Ken Gill.

At the Taste Council's summer school, the body's chairman Kevin Sheridan told Irish Country Living editor Mairead Lavery that increased co-ordination was needed to support artisan food producers.

Maurice Moloney, chief executive of the Global Institute for Food Security in Canada, spoke to Amy Fitzgibbon at the 18th World Congress of Food Science and Technology about the role GM crops can play in helping agriculture deal with the challenge of global food security over the next 50 years.

Irish Farmers Journal market specialist Phelim O'Neill met with Stefan Hagenbuch, a member of the Swiss Dairy Farmers Association, to discuss the dairy market and the differences between Irish and Swiss costs of production.

Education and careers editor of Irish Country Living, Mary Phelan, discusses the CAO points for 2016 with news reporter Amy Fitzgibbon.

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