A Christmas message from our editor, Lana Best

The Tasmanian Country team has traversed the state this year bringing a paper full of presents every week in the way of inspirational ag stories, industry updates and breaking news.

It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to be allowed onto farms – from the Primal Pastures piggery at Mangana in the Fingal Valley to the wine and wool property Kelvedon Estate at Swansea on the East Coast to agri-tourism business Gaunts Farm at Nietta in the North West to the Triffett’s rugged cattle property Moon Marsh in Tasmania’s Central Highlands.

There’s been canola, beans, broccoli, potatoes, pine trees, cheese, tomatoes, quail, whiskey, flowers, grapes, blueberries, cherries and of course sheep and cattle plus many more farming ventures covered.

Always it’s the people behind the products, the hard-working, innovative, unstoppable people on the land who make our job a joy.

These same people, our readers, and a far broader audience online, keep Tas Country alive and informative.

We appreciate our contributors, the industry experts and representatives, our fishing guru Adam Rice, the government officials who take our calls and the people who take a photo or send in some info to help us out because we can’t be everywhere at once. And we wouldn’t even have a paper without our loyal advertisers, who recognise Tas Country’s reach is truly statewide and the best way to get a message into the country areas.

The boosting of our online presence with a new and improved website and free digital app (if you haven’t got us in your pocket by now you might need a prod), delivering news paywall-free every day, has proved extremely popular and expands our audience globally.

There are challenges in the newspaper industry, there are challenges in farming, there are pressures on our physical and mental health with finance, weather, fire, disease and the incomprehensible acts of violence that have surfaced in our communities, both locally and interstate.

This Christmas and into the New Year, let’s concentrate on all the good news stories in Tas Country.

Make a point of checking in on our neighbours, ask for help when we need it, find a way to show kindness and be grateful for living in the food bowl of the nation where beauty and good people surround us every day.