Progressive Dairy: Leon Leavitt's Idaho Dairy Magazine, Its Editions and Editors
Profile updated November 2026
Progressive Dairy magazine started in 1987 as a way to get timely, professional information to dairy farmers in southern Idaho. Under its original name, Progressive Dairyman, it grew with the western dairy boom into a national magazine with Canadian and French-language editions.
| Founded | 1987, Jerome, Idaho, as Progressive Dairyman |
|---|---|
| Founder | Leon Leavitt, Utah State University dairy science graduate |
| Publisher | Progressive Publishing |
| Editions | Progressive Dairy (U.S.), Progressive Dairy Canada (2012), Progressive Dairy en francais (2015) |
| Extras | Weekly email newsletter and weekly podcast |
| Digital home | AgProud.com |
| Official website | Progressive Dairy at AgProud.com |
History of Progressive Dairy
In March 1987 Leon Leavitt stopped in to see his friend Dr. Bruce Bradley at Northwest Labs in Jerome, Idaho, and the conversation helped set him on the path to publishing. Leavitt had grown up on a western Idaho dairy, studied dairy science at Utah State, and worked for Pet Milk, Carnation de Mexico, a commercial dairy, a DeLaval dealership and Carnation Genetics. He designed Progressive Dairyman to give Idaho dairy producers useful, professional information.
The magazine grew as Idaho became one of the nation's top milk states, and Progressive Publishing added titles: Progressive Forage in 2000, Progressive Cattle in 2011, Progressive Dairy Canada in 2012 and a French-language edition in 2015. A Spanish-language dairy magazine was tried but discontinued as a separate publication in 2015, with Spanish content now appearing periodically inside the English titles.
Along the way the magazine shortened its name to Progressive Dairy, and the company went online in 2004, years before many farm publishers.
Progressive Dairy Today
Progressive Dairy publishes regular print and digital issues and runs a weekly newsletter and weekly podcast, including producer conversations such as mother-daughter dairy partnerships. Content lives on AgProud.com with the company's other titles.
Its Idaho roots still show: recent coverage has included a farmer-owned group opening an ice cream processing plant in Jerome and the region's water challenges.
What Progressive Dairy Is Publishing Now
Herd management
Cow health, reproduction, calf care, milking systems and labor management.
Business and markets
Milk pricing, processing investments and dairy economics for operations of every size.
Voices and blogs
Editor's columns, guest blogs and series such as The Outside Circle and Wipe Your Feet give the magazine a personal tone.
Progressive Dairy Editors and Staff
Editorial contacts listed by Progressive Publishing for Progressive Dairy include:
- Audrey Schmitz - Editorial staff, Progressive Dairy
- Jenn Coyne - Editorial staff, Progressive Dairy
- Kimmi Devaney - Editorial staff, Progressive Dairy
- Leon Leavitt - Founder and longtime publisher
Company mail: Progressive Publishing, PO Box 585, Jerome, ID 83338; info@progressivepublish.com.
Who Reads Progressive Dairy
Readers are dairy owners, herd managers and the nutritionists, veterinarians and suppliers who serve them in the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. dairy sector has shifted to larger, fewer operations concentrated in a few states, a trend documented by USDA's Economic Research Service and one Progressive Dairy has covered from inside one of those states.
Dairy people keep humor close because cows do not take holidays. When the parlor is clean and the calves are fed, farm.FM has farm satire and farm humor written with dairy life in mind, along with ranch humor for the beef cousins down the road. Its farm jokes about milk checks are only funny because they are so close to true.
The outlet behind those laughs, farm.FM, is the nation's first satirical farm site, complete with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers. A farm.FM humorist's archive shows what a week of it looks like.
Progressive Dairy Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Progressive Dairy: About us - history of the magazine and its editions.
- Utah State University: Dairy science to publishing success - the founder's story.
- USDA ERS: Dairy - federal dairy sector data and research.
- Ohio State University Extension: USDA ERS Dairy Outlook - extension analysis of dairy markets.
- USDA FSA: Idaho 2022 Census of Agriculture data - farm statistics for Idaho.
Progressive Dairy FAQ
When was Progressive Dairy founded?
Leon Leavitt launched it in 1987 in Jerome, Idaho, originally as Progressive Dairyman.
Who publishes Progressive Dairy?
Progressive Publishing, an independent company in Jerome, Idaho.
Does Progressive Dairy have international editions?
Yes: Progressive Dairy Canada and Progressive Dairy en francais.
Does Progressive Dairy have a podcast?
Yes, along with a weekly email newsletter.
From one Idaho dairyman's idea to three editions in two languages, Progressive Dairy magazine remains a producer-focused voice for the modern dairy.