Young farmers will fight any closure of agricultural colleges, the president of Macra na Feirme, Mr Tommy Maguire, told the organisation's annual conference.
Mr Maguire said the lack of young people willing to pursue farming as a career had been well documented and was probably more starkly illustrated by the drop in numbers entering agricultural colleges.
"While this has clear implications for the long-term future of agriculture, it presents a more immediate threat to the future of our agricultural colleges, some of which will find it difficult to keep their heads above water if this trend is not reversed," he said.
"Teagasc are currently reviewing the future of agricultural colleges, with rationalisation seeming to be the likely outcome. Our agricultural colleges are focal points for their communities, and we in Macra would certainly resist any attempt to close any of them."
He said the challenge for colleges under pressure was to diversify and expand their programmes to take up the slack left as a result of the drop in the number of Certificate in Farming students. "Unfortunately, many of our colleges badly need capital investment if they are to be in a position to engage in such diversification."
He said some money had been made available for investment, but the bulk of it had gone to Teagasc-run colleges at the expense of private-sector colleges which had served the sector for so long.
Mr Maguire called for a national plan for agriculture to be drawn up and co-ordinated by the Department of Agriculture. He said it was becoming apparent that rural Ireland no longer held the political influence it once did, and there was a need for policymakers to convince non-farming communities that agriculture and rural Ireland were worth supporting.
It was questionable whether farm organisations should be trying to outdo one another in criticising and highlighting the problems farmers were experiencing.
"While farmers expect this of their organisations, it is questionable whether it is doing our cause any good. I feel that a more measured approach and, indeed, a greater degree of strategic co-operation between the farm organisations is needed," he said.
The conference, which is expected to bring over 2,000 Macra members to Bantry, continues over the weekend. It was officially opened last night by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh.