FOOD writer Carol Trewin, who worked as Farming Editor and later Food Editor of the Western Morning News, died yesterday after a three-year fight with leukaemia.

Carol, 56, joined the Western Morning News from BBC Radio Four's Farming Today Programme in 1997. She quickly earned a reputation as an expert in her field and as a great champion of Westcountry farming and food production.

After a four-year break from the newspaper, when she worked in Cornwall for the campaigning food organisation Taste of the West, she returned to the WMN in 2004 and shortly afterwards became Food Editor. She left through ill health earlier this year but continued to write articles on food until just a couple of weeks ago. Her last article, on food festivals, was published last Saturday.

As well as literally thousands of newspaper articles Carol had written two well-received books, Cornish Fishing and Seafood and Gourmet Cornwall. She was working on a new book about the food of Devon when she died and had been dictating passages to her partner, poet and writer James Crowden, from her hospital bed in Plymouth.

Some of Carol's most memorable news reporting came with the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, which caused devastation to livestock farmers in Devon and Cornwall.

She was acutely aware of the suffering within the farming community and wrote in one article during that period that at times she feared she was the only person in the Westcountry actually making a living out of farming. In 2005 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies.

Friends and colleagues from the food and farming world across the Westcountry and beyond paid tribute yesterday to Carol's great professionalism and expertise.

John Sheaves, chief executive, Taste of the West said: "What a loss. Carol left journalism for a couple of years to work as the Cornwall manager of Taste of the West after the foot and mouth crisis of 2001 because she felt so strongly that she wanted to help the producers and farmers of the county in a practical, grass-roots way. She firmly believed that the produce of the Westcountry could be as good as that of areas like Tuscany and Provence.

"Her books and her journalism, too, were always supportive of the Westcountry food industry. As a friend, I found her counsel nothing short of inspirational,"

Anthony Gibson, former communications director with the NFU said: "Carol's death is a terribly sad loss both personally and to the world of farming and food. Carol brought a cool intelligence to the way she interpreted complex issues and that earned her a lot of respect. Above all she was a hugely intelligent woman and was very highly regarded by the regional food and farming community, which meant that what she produced had all the more impact. She was a considerable champion of food and drink from the South West, and that will be a lasting tribute to her."

Tina Bricknell-Webb, chef and owner of Percy's restaurant, West Devon: "Carol was undoubtedly a most passionate champion for both farmers and local produce. She made many friends through her work and will be sorely missed. Her mission, however, will continue through those that knew her."

Mary Quicke, champion producer of Cheddar Cheese in East Devon, said: "As food producers, we not only had our place in the sun from her writing, but also her writing allowed us to see that we mattered, that what we do is worth doing."

Andy Maunder, of Two Sisters Foods (formerly sales and marketing director of Lloyd Maunder) of Willand, near Cullompton, knew Carol well.

He said: "This has come as a dreadful shock. She was what I would call a proper person – taking a lot of time and effort to get to know her subject, and she knew it well.

"She was good at discovering people in the region who hid their light under bushels, and there are plenty of them. She would say: 'Come on... this is good stuff and we need to tell people about it'.

"Carol was a most likeable person, too. From our business perspective she was a wonderful person to be able to talk to – whether it was good or bad news, and she always gave good advice about food issues, with valuable comments."