Australian Community Media's team of national agricultural writers has welcomed some high profile recruits in recent weeks.
ACM Agriculture's national newsroom boasts many of Australia's best and most experienced agricultural journalists who write across the full suite of ag mastheads including, Farmonline, Queensland Country Life, The Land, Stock & Land, Stock Journal and Farm Weekly.
The national team now has two dedicated rural property writers with Walkley award winning journalist Chris McLennan and experienced rural reporter, Marian Macdonald taking on the roles just as the property sector hits record levels.
Mr McLennan has recently returned to Victoria to join the national team after a five-year stint as Editor of the Katherine Times in the Northern Territory.
He grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the Victorian Mallee and has a formidable background in rural journalism, holding newsroom leadership roles across rural Victoria, including editor of The Guardian, Swan Hill, chief of staff at The Sunraysia Daily, Mildura and two stints at The Weekly Times.
A holder of a national Walkley award for rural reporting, Mr McLennan has extensive knowledge of agribusiness and politics and a deep affection for rural and regional communities.
Marian Macdonald farms in Gippsland, Victoria, and has decades of experience writing for farmers as a journalist, communicator and advocate.
Before joining ACM, Ms Macdonald gained an insider's perspective of the rural property sector during a stint in communications with agribusiness giant, Elders.
Ms Macdonald is also known for her rural journalism, including at Stock & Land, as well as her long-running dairy blog, Milk Maid Marian.
Former Queensland Country Life editor, Melody Labinsky, has also joined the national newsroom as the Machinery and Ag Technology Writer.
Whether it's because she grew up around tractors and harvesters on a Darling Downs grain farm, or purely because she loves understanding how things work, Ms Labinsky has always been interested in machinery.
She is passionate about quality storytelling and can't wait to write about the role machinery and agtech is playing in shaping Australia's farming sector.
Victoria Nugent has also moved from Queensland Country Life to the national newsroom as a National Sheep and Wool Writer - a role she shares with Kristen Frost.
Ms Nugent grew up on a cattle property in Western Queensland and during her 10-year journalism career has worked at the Armidale Express, the Townsville Bulletin and QCL.
In 2017 she was named a finalist in the Queensland Clarion Awards for her reporting on a rape case involving a James Cook University staff member, which helped spark an independent review of the university's sexual harassment and sexual assault policies.
ACM Agriculture also has new two digital journalists working across their agricultural mastheads.
Former ACM journalist Kelly Butterworth has returned after working with the ABC in Mount Isa for the past three years.
Ms Butterworth, who was based in Rockhampton for QCL for four years, still lives in Mount Isa and brings a wealth of experience in digital story telling to the team.
She is joined by former Stock Journal reporter, Elizabeth Anderson, in the digital team.
Ms Anderson started in journalism working on weekly and daily newspapers at Dubbo for a number of years, looking at regional and agricultural topics, before moving to Adelaide to work at Stock Journal.
There she has travelled South Australia for the past seven years covering a range of topics, with a special focus on dairy, while also working with the team to build their digital coverage.
