About Today's Farmer

Today's Farmer

Today's Farmer is an agricultural tabloid newspaper published every other Tuesday, serving approximately 18,000 rural households in the counties of Essex, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex, and Elgin in Southwestern Ontario — the farm paper of the heartland. Owned by Postmedia, edited by Peter Epp (the editor who has covered the region's farm news since 1986), and headquartered at 930 Richmond St. in Chatham, the paper was established in January 2008 as an amalgamation of two farm papers: the Voice of the Farmer (established 1966 in Dresden) and Farm Market (established 1997 in Chatham). It is the farm paper of Ontario's agricultural heartland — the tabloid the region's farmers read, the farm gate's news.

Overview

Today's Farmer publishes every other Tuesday in tabloid format from Chatham — the centre of southwestern Ontario's farm country, the city on the Thames surrounded by some of Canada's most productive farmland, the Canada of the cash crop — the southwestern Ontario farmland among the country's most productive, the paper of the farmers who work it. The coverage spans the five counties: Essex (the greenhouse capital around Leamington — the acres under glass, the tomatoes and cucumbers), Kent (the cash-crop heartland — the corn and soybeans of the former Kent County), Lambton (the Sarnia-area farms, the county where the agriculture meets the Chemical Valley), Middlesex (the London-area agriculture — the farms around the Forest City), and Elgin (the St. Thomas-area farms, the county of the railway city) — the counties where the corn, soybeans, wheat, and greenhouse vegetables grow, the breadbasket of Ontario — the five counties' farms feeding the province, the paper serving the farmers who feed the cities. The paper covers the farm economy (the commodity prices, the markets, the trade — the Chicago Board of Trade watched from Chatham-Kent — the global markets' movements reported for the local farm gate), the agricultural policy (the government programs, the regulations, the supply management debates), the farm technology (the equipment, the precision agriculture, the tile drainage), and the rural life (the farm organizations — the federations of agriculture, the commodity groups — the 4-H clubs, the plowing matches, the community). Serving approximately 18,000 rural households, the paper reaches the farm gates — the tabloid in the farmhouse mailbox every other Tuesday, the farm's paper — the agricultural news arriving with the regularity of the seasons, the farm's fortnight in print, the Tuesday paper read with the week's planning — the biweekly rhythm matching the farm's cadence, the markets and the seasons.

History

Today's Farmer was established in January 2008, an amalgamation of the Voice of the Farmer and Farm Market — the two farm papers of the Chatham-Kent area joining forces, the consolidation of the region's agricultural press. The Voice of the Farmer was established in 1966 in Dresden, Ontario — the farm paper of the Dresden area (the town of Uncle Tom's Cabin fame), serving the Kent County farmers for four decades: the planting seasons and the harvests, the markets and the policies, the farm's news through the 1960s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and 2000s — five decades of the Kent County farm's story, the Voice's archive. Farm Market was established in 1997 in Chatham — the younger paper, launched in March 1997 with Peter Epp's help, the new voice for the region's farmers — Farm Market's 1997 launch, the young paper joining the established Voice, the two papers' decade of coexistence. The 2008 amalgamation consolidated the region's farm press: the two papers' readerships combined into the 18,000 rural households, the lineage stretching back to 1966 — the Voice's 42 years continuing in the new title — the 1966 farm paper's legacy in the 2008 amalgamation, the Dresden voice in the Chatham paper.

Dean Mulharrem is the publisher of Today's Farmer, while Peter Epp is the editor — the same leadership as Chatham This Week, the farm paper and the community weekly sharing the Chatham newsroom at 930 Richmond St., the agricultural and the community journalism from the same desks — the farm's news and the town's news, one newsroom. Coincidentally, Epp was editor of the Voice of the Farmer from 1986 until 1996, and helped launch Farm Market in March 1997 — the editor who has guided the region's farm press for four decades, from the Voice to Farm Market to Today's Farmer: the man who has edited the Chatham-Kent farm news since the mid-1980s, the institutional memory of the region's agriculture in one person — the editor as the paper's continuity, the byline spanning four decades.

Coverage and Audience

The paper serves the farmers and rural households of southwestern Ontario: the cash-crop farmers (the corn, soybean, and wheat growers — the heartland's bread and butter), the greenhouse operators (the Leamington-area greenhouses — the acres under glass, the year-round harvest), the livestock producers (the hog, beef, and dairy farmers), the agri-businesses (the elevators, the dealers, the suppliers), and the rural communities (the farm families, the rural non-farm residents). The coverage includes the commodity markets (the prices, the trends — the markets' movements reported for the farm gate), the agricultural policy (the federal and provincial programs — the safety nets, the environmental regulations — the supply management debates), the farm technology (the equipment — the tractors, the combines — the precision agriculture, the innovations), and the rural life (the organizations — the Ontario Federation of Agriculture locals, the commodity groups — the events, the plowing matches, the issues). The every-other-Tuesday rhythm serves the farm calendar: the biweekly paper arriving with the markets' news, the farm's fortnight in print, the Tuesday paper read with the week's planning.

Ownership

Today's Farmer is owned by Postmedia — the country's largest newspaper company, whose agricultural titles and community newspapers span the country. The paper shares the Chatham newsroom at 930 Richmond St. with Chatham This Week and the Chatham Daily News — the farm paper, the community weekly, and the daily, one newsroom, the agricultural journalism alongside the community and daily news — the farm paper's reporters covering the fields while the colleagues cover the town, the one newsroom serving the farm and the city. The publisher is Dean Mulharrem; the editor is Peter Epp — the leadership that has guided the Chatham-Kent press (farm and community) for decades. The chain ownership reflects the consolidation of Ontario's farm press: the independent agricultural papers joining the national chain, the farm journalism continuing under the corporate roof — the consolidation of the farm press, the journalism enduring.

Digital Presence

Today's Farmer publishes online at todaysfarmer.ca — the digital edition of the biweekly tabloid, carrying the farm news to the online readership: the farmers checking the markets on their phones, the agri-businesses following the industry, the rural readers, the equipment dealers — the farm community online, the paper's digital readership. The website extends the print edition's reach: the farm news available wherever the internet reaches, the every-other-Tuesday paper online every day, the markets' movements updated between editions — the digital farm paper keeping pace with the markets' speed. For southwestern Ontario's farmers, the paper is the farm's paper: established 2008, lineage to 1966, 18,000 rural households, the editor who has covered the region's agriculture since 1986 — Today's Farmer, the agricultural tabloid of southwestern Ontario, serving the 18,000 rural households every other Tuesday, the farm gate's paper — Today's Farmer, the heartland's agricultural tabloid — the farm's paper, every other Tuesday, since 2008 — lineage to 1966, serving the heartland — Today's Farmer, the farm's tabloid.