The Irish Farmers' Association president, Mr John Dillon, has told his members they cannot "unpick" the controversial Dowling report on the reorganisation of IFA.
Since its presentation last week, the recommendations of the report have sent shock waves through the 85,000-strong organisation, which has branches in virtually every parish in the State.
The report has recommended a severe cutback in the size of the national council, a reduction in the number of commodity committees and a change in the voting system used to elect its leaders and the scrapping of the post of deputy president.
The report also questioned the role of Macra na Feirme as a vehicle for bringing young members into the IFA and has proposed the establishment of a special committee to take on this task.
However, the membership of the organisation is finding it difficult to come to terms with the new voting system which will replace the current one in which a branch of IFA, no matter what its size, can generate only one vote in leadership elections.
This has meant that small branches, especially in the west, have exactly the same political clout as large south and east-coast branches with many members.
Mr Dowling wants this to change with the number of votes linked to branch membership. There is strong opposition to this in the poorer areas of the country.
The report was presented to the IFA council last week and is expected to be ratified before the end of this month.
Mr Dillon came out in total support of the report yesterday, saying he was "highly impressed with it" and warned that it could not be unpicked.
"The decision on its implementation and whether to accept or reject it is entirely for the IFA national council to decide," said Mr Dillon, who announced that a decision will be taken on the recommendations on September 22nd.
Mr Dillon added that Mr Dowling, the former secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Food, had acknowledged that change would not be easy and some people would find it difficult to accept the new structures.
This, said Mr Dillon, was understandable but it did not take away from the necessity for the changes proposed in the first major review of IFA structures in over 30 years.