There was enough heavy machinery on the ground at the Farm Machinery Show in Punchestown yesterday, according to one farmer, to "successfully invade Iraq".
It would be hard to disagree with him as the grounds of the famous racecourse were covered with more than €20 million worth of the kind of machines that only a farmer could understand or buy.
While it was unlikely that any of the machines would be going to war, unless Mr John Dillon and the Irish Farmers' Association want to drive on Dublin again, the prices being sought were truly warlike.
Tractor prices ranged between €15,000 and €85,000 for a 180-horsepower New Holland machine to carry out any kind of work, even protesting.
That fact was noted by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, when he officially opened the event in Punchestown yesterday evening.
He was always glad, he said, to see farm machinery on the roads but he thought the new venue for the event, at the racecourse, was far better than Merrion Square.
Even in these difficult financial times, farmers are still buying tractors. Last year, they bought 2,868 tractors, the highest level of new tractors bought here since the 1970s.
Strangely, the new tractors are being bought not by full-time farmers but by part-timers who need more machinery to carry out their jobs properly.
The bulk of the machines, according to the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association, are bought by agricultural contractors - but the association is not complaining about who buys as long as they are sold.
The average horsepower of new tractors being sold has risen to 100 horsepower and the trade is predicting this will continue to increase as more efficient machines are demanded.
The event, which will attract 15,000 specialist buyers over the next two days, was praised by the Minister, who said the turnover of the industry was more than €220 million and it was estimated that more than 3,800 people were employed in the sector.
He pointed out that the industry has a manufacturing side as well, with exports of more than €140 million leaving Ireland annually. One-third of the exhibitors here are Irish.
He said people tended to forget that Ireland had a great agricultural, machinery and manufacturing link, with two of the greatest influences in the area being born on the island.
He said Henry Ford's family had come from Ballinascarthy, Co Cork, and the other great influence was Henry Ferguson, who was born in Co Antrim.
Farm safety was a recurring theme at the show and this was also referred to by Mr Walsh in his opening remarks when he said that farm machinery was a constant source of accidents on farms each year.
"We should remember that between 1995 and 2001, a total of 146 deaths took place on Irish farms and that 36 of these deaths involved children," he said.
"We should not forget that last year, from January to November, there were 11 deaths and I hope that, with the awareness campaigns and the Farm Safety Action Group, there will be a further reduction this year," he said.
There was a large contingent of visitors from Northern Ireland at the event and special train/bus links had been arranged to facilitate their arrival.
The exhibition is housed in the event centre and in three solid sided and heated marquees that have been erected in the grounds of the centre.
The event continues for the next two days.