The Irish Farmers' Association is to review a ban on farm-to-farm canvassing by candidates seeking to become president of the organisation. The election battle began in earnest this week.
The organisation's national council imposed the ban earlier this month as a precaution against foot-and-mouth disease, but in doing so made life very difficult for the candidates.
It came as a second blow to the candidates, Mr John Dillon, Mr John Boylan, Mr Raymond O'Malley and Mr Padraig Walshe, who had seen the most fertile canvassing event, the National Ploughing Championships, cancelled.
This will mean the candidates will have to arrange their own public meetings, accept invitations to county association or branch meetings, or canvass by phone.
The current deputy president, Mr John Dillon, who is leading the race at present, was the first to declare his intention to take over from Mr Tom Parlon.
Mr Dillon is a self-proclaimed militant credited with forcing the IFA blockade on meat factories 18 months ago. He has led a number of successful campaigns, notably a sit-in at the European Commission offices in Dublin, which won major headage payment increases for farmers in disadvantaged areas.
Once described as "the farmers' revenge on Bluebell" because of his uncompromising attitudes towards the officials who run the IFA from the Dublin suburb of Bluebell, his greatest enemy would appear to be historical precedent.
No serving deputy president of the IFA has ever succeeded in replacing the president. All of them, like Mr John Donnelly, have had to wait at least one more election to win the top post.
Mr John Boylan, from Co Monaghan, is seeking to become the first Ulster man to lead the organisation. He is the current honorary treasurer of the organisation.
Mr Boylan has had 30 years' experience in the IFA, having held a variety of key posts at county, provincial and national level. While never classed as a militant, he has been to the forefront in all of the sit-ins and blockades in recent years and is well regarded for his negotiating skills. He runs a dairy and beef farm with his two brothers in Monaghan.
Mr Raymond O'Malley from Ardee, Co Louth, is one of the most successful beef and tillage farmers in the country and is the chairman of Louth IFA, a job with a high profile since the foot-and-mouth crisis there earlier this year.
He was directly involved in the IFA's blockade of beef factories in January 2000, and was one of those named in High Court injunctions which ultimately cost the organisation £500,000 in fines.
Urbane and personable, Mr O'Malley carries the disadvantage of having been targeted by a group of dissatisfied Cooley sheep farmers led by a former IFA activist, Mr John Elmore, who are pushing for better compensation for the animals slaughtered during the foot-and-mouth crisis.
Mr Padraig Walshe from Durrow, Co Laois, runs a model dairy farm and is the youngest of the candidates. A former president of Macra na Feirme, the young farmers' organisation, he is current chairman of the IFA's powerful national diary committee.
Mr Walshe has also served on the board of Teagasc, the agriculture and food development organisation, and was the first Irish Nuffield scholar in 1966, which allowed him travel extensively and study agriculture abroad.
He was directly involved in the reform of the milk quota management system which radically reformed the system of milk production. This involvement made him as many enemies as friends.
The successful candidate will be elected by PR on the votes of the 935 IFA branches where the 85,000 members will be voting between December 3rd and 14th. The final outcome will be known on December 18th.