At the start of his presentation to the Fianna Fáil agriculture conference in Tyrellspass, Co Westmeath, on Saturday, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue contrasted two street views from the early part of the 20th century, 13 years apart.

In the first, there were only horses and carriages, with one car. The second was all cars.

“Change often comes quickly,” he said. His speech, and Kevin Hanrahan’s run through of the new CAP highlighted just how much change farm policy has undergone in two and a half years.

Former Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe’s presentation was wryly described as “a great broadcast for dairy farming” by Senator Erin McGreehan. “As a sheep and beef farmer from the Cooley mountains, we must look after those small sheep and beef farmers, because they are central to so much that we have in the country,” she said, drawing strong applause.

One Westmeath dairy farmer present, Eamon Bray, said “it took a war to get a decent price for milk”.

ACRES came in for some criticism, with one local farmer saying that “the average-sized farm in Westmeath can’t get more than €4,000 from ACRES. I challenge the minister to get more”. In response, Minister McConalogue said riparian zones could return €1,500/ha.

In general, the meeting was very supportive of the minister and his tenure in agriculture. More than one speaker called for him to be retained as agriculture minister, with one contributor describing him as “Fianna Fáil’s David Clifford”.

Eoin Donnelly of the Irish Beef and Lamb Association expressed envy at the dairy co-op structure.

Woulfe responded: “I know when we were in the beef business it was a very difficult business.”