Farmers questioned whether the IFA president should continue to sit the board of Bord Bia at the Meath IFA hustings on Monday night.

All three presidential candidates said they would take the seat on the board.

Angus Woods believed it was better to “change things from the inside” rather than “try and do it from the street”.

John Coughlan said he would sit on the board to challenge Bord Bia.

He believed quality assurance inspections should be every three to four years, not every 18 months.

Tim Cullinan said he would take the seat but would be willing to consider the position if farmers were not “getting value for money”.

Calf welfare was also raised at the meeting.

John Coughlan called for caution that calf price was not talked into the ground as there were “a hell of a lot of good calves”.

He said there was a slaughter trade for some calves and if they were slaughtered correctly under supervision, he had no issue.

Angus Woods warned farmers’ “social licence” needed to be protected.

He said some organisations were “scrambling for the high moral ground”, which was not what was needed.

Tim Cullinan believed that Ireland could not go down the road of slaughtering calves.