Macra has announced the identity of its new CEO. Michael Curran hails from Waterville in Kerry, is from a small farm and is a former solider. It’s an important moment in the near 80-year history of the rural youth organisation. It needs to get this right.

Macra is at a crucial juncture. COVID-19 presented perhaps the greatest ever challenge to the running of competitions and social events. Our post-lockdown society may provide a unique opportunity to rebuild.

Following two years of social isolation, young people must surely yearn for regular interaction. Macra can provide this.

It’s also undeniably true that Macra has previously done less well in terms of membership recruitment and retention when young people have had a lot of money at their disposal.

If you have the money to go to the pub or cinema practically every night, you’re less likely to find yourself in a cold hall on a winter’s evening rehearsing a play, researching for a debate or studying for a Know Your Agriculture quiz.

With current inflation, that is hardly an issue.

Macra has some other things going for it. It remains a social partner, with access to Government. In John Keane, it has a president who has consistently impressed in his first year in office.

That said, Macra’s finances have been under some pressure in recent years. It is currently without a finance manager, a key position to maintain.

In order for Macra to maintain its position of influence, it needs to retain a critical mass of active members.

Currently, there is the sense that a proportion of registered members joined for some of the financial benefits, particularly the insurance rebate offered to members. Rebuilding an appropriate level of activity nationwide will require a massive effort.

There are very strong pockets, but some counties are struggling to nominate teams for national competitions that are at the heart of Macra’s calendar.

Similarly, Macra needs to deepen its panel when it comes to farming.

For its policies to carry weight, there needs to be a broad sweep of young farmers involved in its formulation, not just a dozen or two.

Macra has long been seen as an effective academy for future farm leaders and representatives. With an ever shrinking proportion of its membership actively farming, can it maintain this role?

Finally, as a young farmers’ organisation, Macra might be expected to be a leader in issues like environmental protection and biodiversity. Can it provide leadership to farmers in this generation as it has in previous ones?

A lot for the new CEO to tackle.