The Department of Home Affairs has granted visas to more than 31-thousand backpackers but so far almost 30-thousand of them remain outside Australia and the return of more overseas passengers and flights into Australia has raised questions about the special air freight flights to Asia from places like Hobart

Blueberry growers will soon have access to a range of new organic crop protectants in the fight against blueberry rust.

A bushfire in Tasmania's north at Lebrina has burnt out around 300 hectares of bushland but farms in the area have been spared any damage so far

Fire crews are keeping a close watch on a bushfire at Lebrina which has burnt out around 300 hectares of bushland in the past day, and local vignerons in the area say there has been no issues so far with any smoke taint from the bushfire as the wind has been blowing smoke away from the vines

Huon Valley vigneron Kate Hill says she could lose up to 70 percent of her fruit this vintage because of the severe hail storm in December, and a Derwent Valley farmer has managed to adopt grape vines for planting on his farm after the vines were ripped out of the ground on a Bagdad property

The Environment Protection Authority is monitoring the runoff from fire fighting at a warehouse near Launceston as there are fears a nearby creek and farm dam from the Recycal plant could be affected by polluted water from the fire fighting

Thousands of fish have been killed at Petuna's Rowella processing facility in the Tamar Valley because of the heat, and the Environmental Protection Authority has been called in to monitor the situation and the disposal of the fish

Supermarket giant Woolworths says it will drop the 10 cents a litre drought levy for dairy farmers by the end of June this financial year, after the levy was introduced in 2018 to help dairy farmers through the drought conditions and aid in the recovery via the supermarket branded milk

Biosecurity Tasmania has put out a warning to blueberry growers after two more farms in Tasmania's north west detected blueberry rust, and the total number of farms in Tasmania affected by blueberry rust now totals nine properties across the north and north west of the state

Hop Products Australia says the workforce needed for the upcoming harvest at Bushy Park is down around 20 percent, and the company has put out a call for more workers especially any locals with the annual harvest due to begin in March