Today the IFA celebrates its 50th birthday. Seán MacConnell looks at where the organisation is now.
They used to be called the Holy Trinity, the trio of organisations which yielded the most power and influence in the old Ireland.
There was the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Irish Farmers' Association and the Roman Catholic Church; the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of Ireland.
The GAA, said to be the Father of the State with over a million members, is still very strong but is under threat from other sports, especially soccer and rugby - which not only attract major TV coverage but pay their players too.
The church, the Holy Ghost, has been rocked by a series of scandals which have cost it a lot of its temporal power and influence.
Then there is the IFA, the Son of the soil, the 80,000-strong body which watches the numbers in farming decrease each year as farms grow fewer and larger, and young people leave the land.
Aware of the potential loss of membership over the next decade, the IFA recently put forward a plan for associate membership.
It proposed that people who used the countryside for recreation, or supported the idea of a vibrant countryside, should be allowed to join the IFA.
It was not offering such people voting rights on farming matters. But the associates would have had access to competitively priced insurance from the IFA's sister company, FBD, and cheap telephone rates through its telephone service operations. They would also have had access to its legal services.
It was unfortunate for those who run the organisation from its Bluebell, Co Dublin, headquarters that the associate membership idea came up for discussion at a time when a Sligo farmer was in prison because of his behaviour towards walkers who had crossed his lands on a traditional right of way last January.
The proposal, which had the backing of the president, Mr John Dillon, was not proceeded with, but it must surely be on the agenda again bearing in mind the difficulties facing the organisation.
The last available figures showed that at the end of 2002, the IFA had income of €8.4 million. It is known to have assets of €17 million overall and while that is impressive, it may well need it soon.
The problem is not so much the steady decline in the number of farmers but the continuing drop in their output.
IFA membership is paid on a flat rate for some but the bulk of the €4 million in affiliation fees which came into the coffers in 2003 was in production levies.
Farmers sign over a percentage of what they get in factories and other outlets - a substantial amount over the years.
With just over 130,000 farms left and many of those being run by part-time farmers who work off the land, the take from factories and market places is on the way down.
But there is a huge loyalty to the IFA in rural Ireland with well over 900 branches in virtually every parish in the State.
But the days are drawing to a close when an IFA president could demand a meeting with the Taoiseach and have it within two days. That day died when the IFA refused to sanction the Nice Treaty which led to a referendum defeat, causing acute embarrassment to Ireland as a member-state.
When it looked down at its shoes, provided by the €30 billion the sector had received since membership, it saw a self-inflicted wound which has yet to heal.
The organisation has much to be proud of in the past 50 years. It has forced change from an era when Ireland had to import basic food. It has fought a hard fight for its members and won the admiration even of of its opponents.
It must now become able to embrace the changes which will see fewer than 30,000 full time farmers on the land in less than 10 years.