Agricultural research and advisory body Teagasc has leased the model farm of former FBD Insurance chairman and Irish Farmers Journal editor Mr Paddy O'Keeffe near Fermoy in Co Cork for the next 10 years for around £750,000 (€952,000) and is moving into the property.
The deal has not met with the approval of all Teagasc board members.
The three farmer organisation representatives opposed the decision initially and this led to a boardroom confrontation in June.
But it now seems they are willing to go along with the leasing, provided two other research/experimental farms, in Co Clare and Co Leitrim, used by Teagasc will continue in use.
The concerns of the farming representatives are that a wetland dairy farm in Kilmaley in Co Clare - being bought by Teagasc for £500,000 - and another farm near Ballinamore in Co Leitrim, should continue to be used by Teagasc for research purposes, to serve dairy farmers north of a line from Co Meath to east Cork, in spite of the acquisition of the O'Keeffe farm.
The farmer representatives also concerned about the fate of part of Mr O'Keeffe's considerable milk quota.
They want to ensure that the provision, whereby 20 per cent of a sold or leased milk quota will go into a milk-pot to be allocated to farmers with inadequate quotas at present, will be enforced in the case of the O'Keeffe acquisition.
Mr John Dillon, deputy president of the Irish Farmers' Association, and a Teagasc board member, says: "I put it very clearly to the board: I want Teagasc to represent all farming areas. There is a dairy levy of over £2 million; 30 per cent of milk is being produced in the BMW [Border, midlands and west] and south-west areas.
"And 95 per cent of research is being conducted north of a line between [Teagasc centres] Grange in Co Meath and Moorepark. I want Ballinamore to be in research before my term is over."
Mr O'Keeffe who introduced some of the most innovative farming practices into Ireland, including on his own farm, over the last 40 years, is retiring from farming and he offered his dairy farm at Ballydague near Fermoy to Teagasc.
The lease price, of £75,000 a year, is considered very good value: perhaps two-thirds of what he would have got on the open market.
Independent assessors believe the lease is good for Teagasc.
The organisation has recently been given £25 million for investment in new sciences and biotechnology, about £5 million of which will go to the dairy research centre in Moorepark.
The O'Keeffe acquisition has been approved by the Department of Agriculture and Food because it will not cost the Department additional capital expenditure or staffing.
The Department also says the 20 per cent clawback on sold or leased milk quota would not be enforced because the farm would be used for research purposes.
