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In the week that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party joined in a historical coalition, the Irish Farmers Journal met farmers at Enniscorthy Mart.
Collectively, they had the same message for new Minister for Agriculture Barry Cowen, that they want him to treat farmers with respect and give them a decent price for their produce.
Here's what they said:
John Cullen
"I would like to see him do something with the price of beef anyhow. Beef is on the floor and farmers are losing a lot of money.
"The price of store cattle is good, but we are not getting paid for our beef. The Government formation needed to be done.
"Hopefully the three parties will work together. They have a tough road ahead of them. A lot of businesses are under severe pressure and there is a lot of unemployment, a lot of money will have to be paid back. I'd say there will be a few lean years ahead of us."
Tom Foley
"First of all, I would like the new Minister to treat farmers with respect, give us a decent price for the produce we provide the people.
"Get rid of the cartel in the factories - there is a cartel there and there is no doubt about it.
"As farmers, we will look after the environment as well as we can and let us be recognised for that in REPS.
"If the Government want to bring in a green side to farming, they may pay us to do it. That’s what it boils down to."
Isaac Wheelock
"I would like to see the Minister give a decent price for the food we are producing. There are a lot of people in the world producing a lot of stuff.
"We are producing the most important thing in the world, and that’s food. Farmers seem to be getting very little for it.
"Everything a farmer produces, he gets very little for it, but everyone else seems to be able to make a lot of money from it."
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