About The Farmer Magazine

The Farmer Magazine

Overview

The Farmer is the member magazine of NSW Farmers, the peak farm lobby organisation in New South Wales. NSW Farmers describes The Farmer as its monthly magazine, showcasing its members and the agricultural sector, and a copy is sent to the association's members each month as part of their membership. The title is produced on behalf of NSW Farmers by an external publishing partner, a model that pairs the association's policy and membership base with professional magazine production.

The magazine is unusual among Australian farm publications because it sits at the meeting point of journalism and advocacy. Its pages carry farm features, commodity analysis, innovation stories and community profiles, but they also campaign: investigations by The Farmer have fed directly into national policy debates about fairness in agricultural supply chains. That dual role gives the title an influence beyond its circulation, with its stories quoted in parliamentary debate and in meetings between the association and government ministers.

Although it is a New South Wales title, The Farmer is read as a national voice on farm issues. Its coverage ranges across beef, dairy, poultry, grains, horticulture and emerging farm technology, and its website republishes magazine journalism for a general online audience interested in how food and fibre are produced.

History

The Farmer was launched by NSW Farmers in 2018, created with content agency Medium Rare as its founding publishing partner. The magazine was designed from the start as a premium showcase for the state's farmers, telling the stories of the people and businesses behind New South Wales food and fibre production and giving the association a polished channel through which to present its policy positions to members, politicians and the public.

In March 2020 the publishing contract changed hands. Trade publication AdNews reported on 8 March 2020 that The Intermedia Group had been appointed to publish The Farmer, taking over from Medium Rare, and that the first issue printed by the Sydney-based Intermedia would mark the magazine's second anniversary. Intermedia publisher James Wells said at the time that the title appealed to farmers and regional businesses of all shapes and sizes, from corporate farms and family farms to small businesses and lifestyle properties, and the group appointed Ben Payne as the magazine's sales director.

NSW Farmers chief executive Pete Arkle, quoted in the same 2020 report, said the title had quickly become perceived as a premium agriculture title in Australia, that it was read cover to cover, and that a readership survey showed three in four readers shared their issue with family and friends, with copies also provided to local schools and rural accommodation businesses. He also said the magazine had won numerous awards and received international recognition; those assessments are the association's own and are recorded here as its claims rather than independently audited results.

The magazine has continued as NSW Farmers' flagship publication through the years since, and the association's current website still presents The Farmer as its monthly magazine for members, with an electronic version of the magazine included in current membership offers.

Programming and Content

The Farmer's editorial mix blends member storytelling with hard policy journalism. Feature coverage profiles farming families and generational change, including long-running series on multi-generation farming families, alongside commodity reporting on the beef, dairy, cropping and horticulture industries and the market conditions shaping them.

Its advocacy reporting is the title's most distinctive content. In 2020 The Farmer exposed the market conditions facing Australia's chicken meat farmers, reporting that a lack of processor competition and market transparency had contributed to the collapse of eight family chicken farms in the Northern Rivers region. The reporting helped drive a concerted industry push for a mandatory code of conduct for the poultry sector, supported by NSW Farmers, the National Farmers' Federation and the Australian Chicken Growers Council, and the magazine followed the issue through to a year-long National Farmers' Federation investigation completed in April 2024, which found widespread lack of market transparency and misuse of market power in the poultry supply chain. The magazine likewise reported NSW Farmers' successful campaign to have farmland excluded from the NSW Government's proposed annual property tax, and the association's support for an inquiry into supermarket pricing power.

Innovation and technology form a second strand, with reporting on smart farming, farm data systems, connectivity and new production technology, including the gap between what early adopters are doing on farm and wider industry practice. Regular website sections include "The Big Issue", video content and sponsored content, and the magazine regularly covers trade, drought resilience, young farmers and rural community life.

Audience and Reach

The Farmer's core audience is the membership of NSW Farmers together with the wider New South Wales farming community. A report published by the magazine in 2023 put the association's membership at 6,700, grown over successive years. Members receive the magazine monthly, in print or electronic form depending on their membership arrangements, and NSW Young Farmer members likewise receive a copy each month.

The association's own readership research, quoted by its then chief executive in 2020, indicated strong pass-on readership, with three in four readers sharing their issue with family and friends. Beyond its farm readership, the magazine deliberately addresses an audience of politicians, policy makers and the broader public: NSW Farmers has noted mentions of the title in parliamentary Question Time and in ministerial meetings. The sector the magazine speaks for is substantial; NSW Farmers describes an agricultural industry employing more than 75,000 people in New South Wales and contributing over $24 billion annually to the state economy, with an industry target of $30 billion in output by 2030. Those figures are the association's own and are attributed accordingly.

Digital Presence

The Farmer's website, thefarmermagazine.com.au, republishes magazine journalism online, organising stories by theme with sections for features, trade, video and sponsored content, and bylined contributions from writers including Libby-Jane Charleston, Stephen Mudd and Michael Burt. An industry directory listing names Jac Taylor as the magazine's editor. The site also serves the association's member community, promoting initiatives such as FarmFeed, the online community and app through which NSW Farmers members discuss agricultural and regional issues with peers and association staff.

The magazine forms one channel in a wider NSW Farmers communications network that the association uses to reach members, alongside its Farm Post and Muster email newsletters, the NSW Farmers website and app, field day events and its annual members conference; a partnership announcement issued by connectivity company Zetifi in 2026 listed The Farmer among the association's current member communication channels, confirming the title's continuing operation.

Ownership and Organisation

The Farmer is owned by NSW Farmers and produced on behalf of the association. NSW Farmers is the state's peak farmer advocacy body, representing farmers across commodities and regions in policy debates with government. The magazine's publishing has been handled by external partners: Medium Rare was the founding publisher from 2018, and The Intermedia Group, a Sydney-based publisher of business and trade titles, was appointed in March 2020, with James Wells as its publisher for the title and Ben Payne appointed sales director at the time of the handover. Editorial production combines the publisher's magazine team with NSW Farmers' policy and communications staff, whose economists, committee chairs and policy managers appear regularly as sources and contributors in its pages.

Contact and Availability

The Farmer is distributed monthly to members of NSW Farmers, with an electronic version of the magazine included in current membership offers described on the association's website, nswfarmers.org.au. The magazine's stories are freely readable online at thefarmermagazine.com.au, which also carries its video and sponsored content sections. Membership enquiries are handled by the NSW Farmers Member Service Centre, and advertising and publishing enquiries for the magazine are directed through its publisher and website. In line with WorldNM policy, the public business email field for this listing is intentionally left blank.