Work of Bandon family to feature on new TV series 

After an arid summer, farmers across Ireland are facing into their hectic harvest time - but what is life like for these horny-handed sons and daughters of the soil and the people who work for them?

Documentary series Contractors is back for a third run on TG4 on Thursday at 9.30pm to provide an insight into their work.

The series explores the working lives and personal narratives of eight agricultural contracting families from diverse locations over a 12-month period, offering a unique, practical, and personal insight into contemporary life in rural Ireland.

Among those featured are the O’Mahony family in Bandon.

Tony O’Mahony Agri, Plant & Haulage is a full family operation run by dad Tony and his four sons - Diarmuid, Seán, Mícheal, Séamus. They do everything from ploughing and spreading slurry, to dung, hedge cutting, plant and haulage.

The other businesses featured in Contractors are from Wicklow, Dublin, Kildare, Armagh, Donegal, and Mayo.

The series highlights their professional challenges, the high and lows of their daily routine, and their hopes and dreams, presenting a no-holds barred portrait of these members of an agricultural sub-economy without which farming would not be possible.

Throughout the year, there’s a monumental lot of machinery work to be done on the land and farmers can’t do it alone. So they turn to these contractors and their families: men and women, young and old - hired hands and subcontractors – driving the tractors, excavators and combines, foraging, hauling, seeding, cutting and harvesting. Making farming happen.

Without them, fields would be unploughed and unseeded, slurry would be unspread, silage would be uncut and hedgerows would descend into chaos.

Some are full-time farmers who offer their skills and machines for hire come ploughing season and harvest time. Others are dedicated contractors who hire additional help for the busy months – among them, mums, dads and students earning money to cover the rent – a connected community in a no-nonsense world where time costs money and excuses count for nothing.