IT IS a long-running joke in Tasmania that the reason that Agfest is traditionally held in early May is to ensure an Autumn Break in the weather, if it hasn’t already happened. After a Covid constrained Agfest in 2021, Rural Youth would have been praying that the rains stayed away for this year’s event after they took the punt on moving to late August in the hope of beating Covid crowd caps.

Fortunately, the punt mostly paid off – the Covid crowd caps were lifted and the late winter rains miraculously stayed away. That’s not to say that the event was totally mud free – there was certainly plenty of that, particularly in the car parks where getting bogged become an occupational hazard towards the end of the event, requiring ticket sales to be curtailed on the final day. But overall, it would be fair to say that the 40th anniversary Agfest was an outstanding success, proving once again the resilience and vibrancy of Tasmania’s agricultural sector.

Tasmanian Country, a sister publication of the Gazette, is proud to have partnered with Rural Youth for Agfest’s 40 year journey, and pleased to have been a part of this year’s successful event. “Agfest is an icon of Tasmania’s event’s calendar, and we commend Rural Youth for all their hard work in making this year’s 40th event a success,” Font Publishing Manager Partner Brad Stansfield said.

“This year, we brought back ‘Face on the Front’ in a very 2022 way, providing dozens of happy patrons the opportunity to have their face on the front of a digital copy of Tasmania’s only statewide newspaper. “It was fantastic to see so many farmers, their families and even ‘city slickers’ lapping up the Agfest atmosphere,” Mr Stansfield said.