Editorial: New home for paper's rural stories

You will notice something different about today's paper.

We have a new section - The Country.

Every Thursday for a number of years we have brought you the best in rural content, firstly in Heartland and more recently in The Land.

Well, as part of a few changes we are making this year, The Land now becomes The Country.

This is all part of our plans to bring together NZME's print, radio and digital rural content.

One thing that won't change is the high-quality content, both national and local. We will still bring you the same great stories and opinion pieces.

The local content is especially important to us and our team of reporters, led by the experienced Doug Laing, will still search out those stories of Bay people doing good things in the rural sector.

One new addition to The Country in coming weeks will be a weekly column from the voice of radio's The Farming Show, Jamie Mackay. But more on that soon.

Speaking of The Farming Show, those of you who listen to it will have heard that it also changed to The Country on Monday.

Now you can hear The Country on Newstalk ZB, New Zealand's most listened to radio station, Radio Sport, Hokonui and iHeartRadio, from noon to 1pm weekdays.

You can also keep up with the latest rural news at thecountry.co.nz, the new rural section on nzherald.co.nz.

So, sit back and enjoy this morning's edition of The Country.