The controversial review of the Irish Farmers Association's structure, which was delayed last autumn, is due to be implemented this spring.
President Mr John Dillon told his organisation's annual general meeting that the review was to allow the IFA move with the times.
The controversial document caused dissention within the IFA and sparked a row between it and Macra na Feirme because it proposed a special section for young farmers which would bring the two units into competition.
"I want your agreement and support for the new structures and we will work together to start implementing the review and reorganisation this spring," said Mr Dillon, who is completing his final year as president.
In a wide-ranging address during which he offered an "agreement of equals" and a fresh start to the beef factories, he said farming with decoupled payments under the reformed CAP was the greatest challenge facing Irish agriculture in the past 30 years.
He reminded farmers that those payments were there to pay for restrictions and higher standards being imposed on European farmers.
He told the Government that it would be wrong to subsidise low farm income with an off-farm job.
Mr Dillon said he rejected the conclusions of the Government's Agrivision 2015 Committee that by that year there would be only 8,750 viable full time farmers left in the country.
He said he strongly disagreed with the findings of the committee as they were based on what he termed "a do-nothing option". The Government had to ensure that full-time farming was profitable, product prices had to return a viable margin for efficient farmers and full-time farmers needed a sufficient margin to develop, invest and expand.
For his part, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who opened the new IFA conference centre yesterday, noted that forecasts over the years of a declining population of farmers had not come to pass.
Mr Dillon highlighted potential trouble spots in the coming year when he warned dairies that if they cut the price they were paying to farmers for their milk, his organisation would fiercely resist such price cuts.
And in a message to the Irish beef processing industry, Mr Dillon said he felt the future of the industry now hinged on new structures and relationships between factories and farmers.
"Today I am proposing a partnership of equals. Put the past behind us. Short-term advantage for factory or farmer is a road to nowhere," he said.
"Both sides have a huge investment in the beef industry. We are both up against strong international competition. I am offering the beef trade to take the first step toward building a viable and sustainable industry for farmers and processors," he concluded.