Overcoming adolescence: Tasmania's agricultural history and future

Tasmania has never been for the faint-hearted. Set against a majestic of somewhat eerie landscape, its often-bizarre political machinations emerge from a history with many tangled threads. One important strand that runs through our history is agriculture. Unlike the other colonies, which swung from the sheep's back when minerals and manufacture attracted their attention, Tasmania (try as it might) never moved from its rural roots. We are now beginning to celebrate our farming past and future, and a renaissance is emerging in Tasmania around agriculture and food. To realise its potential, developments in food and farming will need to be informed by civil, creative, constructive and critical conversations.