| Type | Magazine publishing company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Farming, ranching |
| Founded | 1819 |
| Headquarters | St. Charles, Illinois, United States |
| Parent | Fairfax Media |
| Website | www.farmprogress.com |
Farm Progress is the publisher of 22 agricultural and ranching magazines. The company dates back nearly 200 years. Farm Progress Companies is owned by Fairfax Media, an Australian media company based in New South Wales.
Farm Progress has the oldest known continuously published magazine with Prairie Farmer, which was launched in 1841. The company publishes 18 regional magazines with local coverage of each agricultural community. Annually, Farm Progress produces four farm shows including the Farm Progress Show, which launched in 1953. [1]
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The company currently known as "Farm Progress" started in 1819 with the "American Farmer" magazine. "Prairie Farmer" started in 1841, followed by "Wallaces' Farmer" in 1855, which helped chronicle the vast changes in Iowa agriculture as well as providing information to help farmers trim costs and boost profits.[2] Three generations of the Wallace family; Henry Cantwell Wallace, Henry A. Wallace, and Henry Browne Wallace, owned and operated "Wallaces' Farmer", which was then a newspaper.[3]
The Farm Progress affiliate, Prairie Farmer, purchased a talk radio station WLS-AM from Sears in 1928, as a service to farmers.[4] The station moved to the Prairie Farmer Building on West Washington Street in Chicago, Illinois where it remained for 32 years.[5]
In 1959, ABC Broadcasting/Paramount Theaters bought the Farm Progress Group. In 1986, ABC merged with Capital Cities and in 1996, the Disney Company purchased Capital Cities/ABC. In 1997, the Disney Company sold the Farm Progress Companies to Rural Press.[6] Rural Press merged with Fairfax in 2007.
| Publication | Coverage |
|---|---|
| American Agriculturist | Northeastern United States |
| California Farmer | California, Arizona |
| Carolina-Virginia Farmer | North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia |
| Dakota Farmer | North Dakota, South Dakota |
| Farm Futures | United States (National coverage) |
| Indiana Prairie Farmer | Indiana |
| Kansas Farmer | Kansas |
| Michigan Farmer | Michigan |
| Mid-South Farmer | Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi |
| Missouri Ruralist | Missouri |
| Nebraska Farmer | Nebraska |
| Ohio Farmer | Ohio |
| Prairie Farmer | Illinois |
| Southern Farmer | Southeastern United States |
| The Farmer | Minnesota |
| The Farmer-Stockman | New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas |
| Wallaces Farmer | Iowa |
| Western Farmer-Stockman | Northwestern United States |
| Wisconsin Agriculturist | Wisconsin |
In 1953, Prairie Farmer teamed with WLS Radio in Chicago to host a field day where farmers could see first-hand the progress being made in farming equipment, along with seed varieties and ag chemicals.
In subsequent years, the show evolved to include seed test plots and field demonstrations. The show typically was held annually at different sites in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. As the event grew, it became apparent that temporary sites were inadequate to handle the large crowds and exhibits.
In 2005, a permanent biennial exhibit site was constructed near Decatur, Illinois which hosted its inaugural show in 2005. For the 2007 show, the site was expanded and upgraded with asphalt paved streets. The Decatur site is one of two permanent biennial sites constructed to host the show.
Boone, Iowa, was selected for the show's second permanent biennial site. In 2008 the show site hosted its first show at its newly constructed permanent biennial facility. The show now alternates between these two permanent sites on an annual basis. The Boone site is developed on about 600 acres (2.4 km2) at the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Iowa Highway 17, while the Decatur show site includes 640 acres (2.6 km2) of exhibits and field demonstrations.
The Farm Progress Show is the oldest and largest outdoor agricultural equipment exhibition in the United States with more than 500 exhibitors. Farm Progress Companies does not release attendance figures, but the Decatur Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates attendance of at least 150,000 for the three days of the 2007 show.
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