‘Gobsmacked at the scale’: blueberry industry’s rapid expansion divides NSW’s mid-north coast

Rolling fields of black netting at a blueberry farm north of Coffs Harbour. Photograph: Elise Derwin/The Guardian

Tensions are simmering across the New South Wales mid-north coast.

On one side are dairy and beef farmers, and residents who moved to the region for the landscape and the lifestyle. On the other are blueberry farmers, whose holdings have expanded dramatically in the past few years.