Faceoff: Farming

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 1, 2004

Two big shifts are changing the look of rural America: on the one hand, more high-income professionals are moving farther away from cities, building small barns and buying small tractors or large pickups. On the other hand, consolidation has increased the number of mega-farms, driving down the of mid-size holdings. While the overall number of farms in America has fallen by 4 percent since 1997, the planted acreage has stayed the same, and yield per acre has increased - just in time for lower worldwide grain stocks, sending American profits up. However, both of these magazines are over 100 years old, and having survived a century of dramatic changes in American farming life, they're likely to be around as long as there are harvests. - Jim Jazwiecki

Successful Farming (Meredith Corporation)

Circulation: 442,311 Total Paid: 442,311 Ad Pages: 8/03-6/04: 600

Few people realize that the Meredith Corporation got its start with this farm title, which is now a spry 102 years old. Successful Farming's editorial strategy, according to publisher Tom Davis, is a "three-legged footstool:" production, business and family. The editorial is good enough to yield more paid circulation than any other national farming magazine, and SF often scores high in Readex surveys.

After some weak years, ads have jumped 11.8 percent over 2002, to 600 pages for SF's 2004 fiscal year, which runs August through May/June. And, Davis says the September issue was the largest ever, with 44 percent more ads than last year. SF's Website, Agriculture Online, started in 1995, and online revenues for 2004 are up 22 percent over 2003.

SF has successfully hitched its brand to a major trend of city folk moving to rural areas with the recent launch of Living the Country Life, a free magazine that's mailed to addresses (culled from Meredith's database) on large properties outside metropolitan centers. The articles, including rhubarb recipes and horse-buying tips, are just as useful for the farm families that read SF as they are for lifestyle ruralists.

On the competition: "SF has adapted and evolved in order to continue to be a vital business asset," says Davis. "We've been able to make those changes without the disruption that comes from change in cultures and management styles that is inevitable with ownership changes."

Farm Progress (Rural Press Ltd.)

Circulation: 65,730 Qualified/Non-Paid: 481,333 Total Circulation: 547,063

Sixty years older than rival SF, Farm Progress has changed hands a few times in the past year, going before ending up in the collection of Rural Press Limited, an Australian regional agricultural publisher.

More a collection of 18 local magazines than a single title, FP covers national farm production and business issues with generous helping of region-specific information. "You ask us if we're national or local," explains President Jeff Lapin. "The answer is yes. A story that will run in Missouri, if it applies to Kansas, we will run in Kansas, with more specific info." Until now, the books have been tied together by identical logos, but in September, each will sport its own redesign on larger folio sizes.

Eighty-eight percent of FP's circ is controlled, but the mag continually tests direct mail responses to build up paid circ. Lapin says FP has the richest database in the industry, which is updated yearly for $2 million. FP also has two major farm shows: the Farm Progress Show and the Husker Harvest Days.

As farmers become more interested in risk management, return on investment, and employee 401(k)s, FP is reviving another controlled title, Farm Futures, for producers who make $250,000 or more. It will be less about growing crops than growing businesses.

On the competition: "You'll find Successful will get into talking about farm families and issues of production, as well...it's not as focused as what we do," says Lapin.