Where better than the single biggest Irish gathering of farmers to get the picture on what they think of a technology likely to change radically their relationship with the land? It is, after all, a departure potentially as significant as the invention of the plough itself.
They sense that the GM food revolution is much like a storm about to envelop them as they see millions of acres of GM crops being planted by the world's biggest food-producing nations, but next to none in Europe. Yet, in many respects, their concerns reflect those of consumers. It's farmers like Jack Lynch from Mallow, Co Cork - he grows grain and sugar beet - who are the first to have to contend with the imminent arrival of GM strains. "I have an open mind. I would not dance about opposing them."
He believes people need to be realistic. "Let's be sensible. We all probably ate GM cornflakes this morning. Just because we (farmers) are not producing them here does not mean we are not getting them."
With GM beet being tested by a small number of farmers for US multinational Monsanto, the message he's receiving is that GM varieties may boost yield but will definitely make it easier to control weeds. The beet has an extra genetic component to make it resistant to RoundUp herbicide.
"Irish trials, unfortunately, are being disturbed and we don't seem to be getting the results needed to get a balanced outlook. The beet is not being left long enough in the soil," he adds.
Joe Parlon, a dairy farmer from south Offaly, admits he knows little about GM foods, "but what I'm hearing is not very positive". Farmers are unlikely to be taken in by promises of better yields when "there is so much over-supply". "I would prefer to see a situation where beef, milk and cereals are in demand."
As for claims that GM foods pose health risks, he feels they are rumour. "Everything is hyped nowadays. It's hard to know what's true and what's not."
A fellow dairy farmer from Kildorrery, Co Cork, would prefer GM crops - like hormones - taken out of farming with a return to farming "the ordinary way" and less push towards intensive agriculture.
Mr Martin O'Regan, the IFA's sugar beet and vegetable association chairman, admits that Irish farmers are standing back on GM foods. While his organisation sees merits in GM production, they were food producers for the consumer, whose view "cannot be ignored".
He had yet to see evidence that GM food is any different to other foods. "It is still at the research stage. We want to see if it can compete with existing crops. And I would like to see more scientists entering the debate to tease out the real issues."
Mr Pat Smith, the IFA director of operations, says "there are massive benefits from GM foods for consumers, farmers and the environment". That had to be placed in the context of "genuine concerns" needing independent clarification and reassurance.
From a farming perspective, the big issue was whether the multinationals would dominate and control the germplasm (the genetic pool from which GM varieties are made) and whether regulators could ensure farmers were not held to ransom. Another factor was the possible lack of control over what crops they would grow.
Farmers, he adds, have seen how "perception rather than scientific reality" can leave them at an economic disadvantage. Farmers in the US have a 15 per cent cost advantage over their EU counterparts as they use hormones in beef production. The EU could not stifle agricultural progress in the face of competition from major producers. That said, he accepts that Europe is going to take a long time to resolve differences over GM food.
Tillage farmer Jack Lynch offers a final verdict: "All this is nothing new. Anybody from the Christian tradition is genetically modified. God took a rib out of Adam and made Eve. And you cannot deny that!"