The race to find a successor to Mr John Deegan, the Wicklow sheepfarmer who resigned unexpectedly from the presidency of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association, has got under way.
Mr Deegan, who had only held the post in the specialist drystock farm organisation since the beginning of the year, said last week that he was stepping down having achieved all he had set out to do in relation to the CAP reform package, with the Government announcement of full decoupling.
"I have worked very hard to get the best possible deal for farmers and in this regard, I would like to support the Minister for Agriculture in everything that he has done over the past six months and especially during the Luxembourg and Cancun negotiations," he said in a statement.
"I am stepping aside at this point due to the enormous pressures on myself, my family and my business, and I wish ICSA every success in the future."
At least two of the candidates who were defeated in the presidential race last year, Mr John Heney of Tipperary and Mr Martin Coughlan of Waterford, are expected to contest, along with Mr Malcom Thompson of Donegal.
Meanwhile, the Irish Farmers' Association's returning officer, Mr Seamus O'Brien, has said there will be no mid-term challenge to Mr John Dillon's leadership of the association.
There had been threats of a mid-term challenge to the Co Limerick farmer following the divisive election two years ago which split the IFA community on an east-west geographical basis. Mr Dillon won the contest in a four-way competition.
However, he united the organisation behind him last January when he led one of its most successful income protests ever mounted.
He brought thousands of tractors out onto the roads of Ireland in a week-long campaign, which culminated in a 300-strong cavalcade of tractors into the centre of Dublin.