Illinois Farm Bureau Partners: History, Content, Staff and Readers
Profile updated November 2026
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners is the Illinois Farm Bureau's magazine for its members, built to connect them with the food they eat, the farmers who grow it and the farm, family and food communities of Illinois. In its current form for more than a decade, Partners runs alongside a website, social media and a weekly podcast.
| Publisher | Illinois Farm Bureau (Illinois Agricultural Association) |
|---|---|
| Federation founded | 1916, by farmers meeting at the University of Illinois |
| Focus | Illinois farm, family and food people, places and events |
| Format | Seasonal print magazine, website, social media and weekly podcast |
| County Farm Bureaus | 96 in Illinois |
| Sister publication | FarmWeek, the IFB farm newspaper |
| Official website | ILFBPartners.com |
History of Illinois Farm Bureau Partners
The Illinois Farm Bureau traces its roots to December 1913, when the Illinois Association of County Agriculturalists was formed. In 1916 a group of farmers meeting at the University of Illinois founded the organization as the Illinois Agricultural Association, still its legal name. Its first work was bringing soil and crop specialists to every county to share research and recommendations.
Over the next two decades it grew into a system of statewide cooperatives, insurance companies and farm businesses, helping form COUNTRY Financial, GROWMARK and FS, and Prairie Farms Dairy. The federation marked its centennial with the 2015 history A Voice for Illinois Agriculture.
Partners took its present shape roughly 15 years ago, when IFB's communications leadership led an effort to improve the magazine so it would speak to the farm, family and food interests of the full membership, not only active farmers.
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners Today
Partners publishes seasonal issues, such as Winter 2026-27, and keeps its stories on its own website with a weekly podcast and social media channels. County Farm Bureaus contribute their own pages, and advertising helps cover the cost of producing and mailing the magazine.
Partners complements FarmWeek, the IFB newspaper that celebrated its 50th anniversary, which carries the federation's markets, policy and production news for farmers.
What Illinois Farm Bureau Partners Is Publishing Now
Farm
Stories on Illinois farmers, crops and livestock, written for members who want to understand where food comes from.
Family
Rural life, county Farm Bureau activities and the communities that grow up around Illinois agriculture.
Food
Illinois-grown food, recipes, restaurants and destinations that tie members to the state's farms.
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners Editors and Staff
An Illinois Partners article on the magazine's team credits these staff members:
- Jessy Yancey - Day-to-day magazine, website and social media management
- Carisa Ownby - Day-to-day magazine, website and social media management
- Tammie Sloup - Editing and fact-checking
- Jeff Brown - Editing and fact-checking
- Mike Orso - Writer
- Sabrina Burkiewicz - Podcast co-host
Nan Fannin coordinates county pages and mailings, Michelle Pazar leads advertising, and photographers include Jeff Adkins, Nathan Lambrecht, Catrina Rawson and Dawn Heggie.
Who Reads Illinois Farm Bureau Partners
Partners goes to Illinois Farm Bureau members across 96 county Farm Bureaus, a membership whose voting farmers represent about three of every four Illinois farmers, alongside many more associate members. Illinois is one of the nation's leading corn and soybean states, and its county-level crop and livestock data can be explored in USDA's Quick Stats.
Nationally, the 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 1.9 million farms, 95% of them family farms, the kind of operations Partners profiles.
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners readers live where the corn rows run straight to the horizon and the pie at the county fair is a serious matter. For more fun with farm, family and food, farm.FM offers farm satire and farm humor about prairie life, plus ranch humor for anyone with a few beef cows behind the machine shed. Its farm jokes pair well with a slice of Illinois pumpkin pie.
For context, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site and the home of Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers. Its contributors each keep an archive, and this one is a good sampler of ranch humor and farm jokes.
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Illinois Partners: Meet the staff - the team behind the magazine.
- Illinois Farm Bureau: Who we are - founding, mission and affiliated companies.
- Wikipedia: Illinois Farm Bureau - history and county structure.
- USDA NASS Quick Stats - Illinois crop and livestock statistics.
- USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture - national farm structure data.
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners FAQ
Who publishes Illinois Farm Bureau Partners?
The Illinois Farm Bureau, legally the Illinois Agricultural Association, founded in 1916.
What does Partners cover?
Illinois farm, family and food people, places and events, connecting members with the farmers who grow their food.
Does Partners have a podcast?
Yes, Partners produces a weekly podcast alongside its magazine, website and social media.
How is Partners different from FarmWeek?
FarmWeek is IFB's farm news publication for producers; Partners is the lifestyle magazine for the whole membership.
Issue by issue, Illinois Farm Bureau Partners keeps Illinois members connected to the farms and families behind their food.