I’ve spent hundreds of evenings in sheds. Tending to livestock, feeding and bedding or perhaps working at machinery, repairs and maintenance.

Last Monday evening, I was in a shed with over 150 other people, which is pretty unusual.

The occasion was a Kildare Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) monthly meeting, but it was a meeting with a difference.

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Kildare isn’t the only county to have organised a less formal setting for a summer meeting, I’ve been at similar meetings in Meath and Wexford.

In common with those meetings, a barbecue was in store for all who attended. And like those other meetings, it meant larger numbers than usual and also a much broader and more healthy demographic among the attendees - more women, more young people, even children along with their parents.

There was an extra dimension to the Kildare meeting. IFA president Francie Gorman was in attendance and spoke at the meeting’s outset, but he was only the warm-up act. Local TD Martin Heydon, who just happens to be the Minister for Agriculture, was the star attraction.

Dynamics

The dynamic between the two men was interesting. They would know each other fairly well. Gorman is from neighbouring Laois and as south Leinster IFA chair, would have had plenty of interaction with Heydon in his capacity as Minister of State.

Gorman made it clear at the meeting that his presidency will be defined by the IFA being on the front foot in terms of policy determination. And that he wants to work with Martin Heydon, particularly in terms of the likes of CAP reform.

“We want to be inside with genuine engagement on those big issues,” he said. “I do believe we are going to get proper engagement from the Department for us as farmers.

"I genuinely think we need to be inside of that room and if we feel there is something they are not doing right or that we can influence and get a change, we’ll do that better inside the door than outside it kicking it in.”

It was a crystal-clear vision of what the IFA intends to do. It doesn’t come without dangers.

The last time the IFA so clearly set out an intent to devise policy, as opposed to react to what emerges, was when John Bryan was president, Simon Coveney was minister and the IFA was deeply involved in, and took ownership of, the Irish response to the Ciolos reforms.

Unhappy

Some farmers were unhappy that Ciolos’s desire to flatten payments was thwarted by the counter-proposals dreamed up in Dublin and that was instrumental in the foundation of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA).

Others on high payments, particularly cattle finishers and tillage farmers, felt the IFA-Coveney alliance hadn’t done enough to limit convergence, which was part of the reason for the birth of the Irish Grain Growers (IGG) group and Beef Plan.

It's a delicate balancing act. The old saying goes that if you don’t stand up for something, you lie down for everything.

That said, with the CAP cake likely to be smaller, being instrumental in deciding the size of certain slices requires some moral courage.

This is particularly true in the case of a farm organisation that represents farmers of all types of enterprise, scale and intensity, as the IFA does.

Budget sees Government beholden by election promises

The IFA - and indeed all farm organisations - are on the front foot when it comes to domestic support for farming from this Government.

The Programme for Government may be fairly vague in terms of financial commitments to farmers, but the pre-election manifestos from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were explicit and extravagant in their financial commitment to farming.

Those promises, made less than 12 months ago, will be recalled at every turn in the run-up to the initial budget of this administration.

Minister Heydon spoke with authority on a wide range of subjects. It’s fair to say he can talk a good game in general, it’s why he is often sent out to bat on behalf of the Government as a whole.

He had done so earlier on Monday as he reacted to the tariff deal agreed between the EU and the US. But the big tests all lie ahead for him and he will be judged on his actions, not his words.

Afterwards, people queued to express their good wishes to the Minister. While those of us who track him weekly are well used to him as Minister, it was probably the first time many of the people in the room saw him on official duty as a Minister.

The six months he has served represent only 10% of a full five-year term. The big tests all lie ahead, but when he described it as “the honour of my lifetime” to be Minister for Agriculture, nobody in the room doubted the sincerity of the statement.

The shared sense of direction between the Minister and the leader of Ireland’s largest farm organisation can’t be a bad thing.

There will be a lot of pressure on both men, with CAP, the nitrates derogation, TB, ACRES, the threat of bluetongue, trade tariffs and much more.

Both men are in the job they say they always wanted. The really hard work starts now.