Minnesota Farmers Union Publications: Minnesota Agriculture, History, Content and Staff
Profile updated November 2026
Minnesota Farmers Union speaks for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities across the state, and its main print voice is Minnesota Agriculture, a monthly newspaper mailed from the union's St. Paul office. Each issue mixes legislative reports from the Capitol and Washington, the president's column, member profiles, youth camp news and items from the union's own past.
| Main publication | Minnesota Agriculture, monthly |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Minnesota Farmers Union; Gary Wertish listed as publisher |
| Editor | Janet Kubat Willette, MFU Communications Director |
| Organization founded | 1918, first local in Jackson County |
| Address | 305 Roselawn Ave. E., Suite 200, St. Paul, Minnesota |
| ISSN | 0274-9718 |
| Official website | MFU.org |
History of Minnesota Agriculture (Minnesota Farmers Union)
Minnesota Farmers Union traces its start to 1918, when the first local formed in Jackson County in southwestern Minnesota. It is a state division of National Farmers Union, which ten farmers founded in Point, Texas, in 1902, and it shares the national group's three priorities: legislation, cooperation and education.
Over the following century MFU built a network of county organizations and affiliated businesses, including Farmers Union Agency Insurance and Farmers Union Industries, and became one of the most active Farmers Union divisions in the country. Membership is open to everyone, farmer or not.
Minnesota Agriculture has served as the union's newspaper of record, carrying policy, convention business and member news to farm households. It is mailed at the periodical rate from St. Paul, and the May 2026 issue was numbered Volume 170, No. 5. A regular feature reprints items from the paper's past, with recent issues looking back at 1946, 1986 and 2006.
Minnesota Agriculture (Minnesota Farmers Union) Today
Minnesota Agriculture remains a monthly print paper, and MFU posts each issue as a PDF on its website. Recent issues have covered EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard volumes for 2026 and 2027 and the emergency E15 waiver, fertilizer and fuel costs, surveillance pricing, a delayed USDA poultry grower payment rule, and how farmers can use farmers.gov and login.gov.
State legislative coverage is detailed: dairy programs, the agriculture policy omnibus bill, local food funding, farmland reporting, down payment assistance for beginning farmers and meat processing grants all appeared in spring 2026.
What Minnesota Agriculture (Minnesota Farmers Union) Is Publishing Now
Policy from St. Paul and Washington
Government relations reports, antimonopoly updates and the president's column set out MFU positions on state bills, the farm bill and federal rules.
Members and farms
Profiles of members and county leaders, such as a Kanabec County farmer working on climate resilience, plus new-member lists and county news.
Youth, education and history
Summer leadership camp registration, counselor profiles, New Leader Academy news, a recipe, a calendar, farm stress helpline information and the look-back column.
Minnesota Agriculture (Minnesota Farmers Union) Editors and Staff
Minnesota Agriculture's masthead and MFU's staff page list these people:
- Gary Wertish - MFU President and Publisher
- Janet Kubat Willette - Editor; MFU Communications Director
- Anne Schwagerl - MFU Vice President
- Stu Lourey - Government Relations Director
- Justin Stofferahn - Antimonopoly Director
- Kyle Hoffman - Marketing Manager and Minnesota Cooks Director
MFU describes Kubat as managing the union's print publications and telling members' stories.
Who Reads Minnesota Farmers Union Publications
Readers are MFU members: crop and livestock farmers, dairy families, beginning farmers and rural supporters across Minnesota, along with legislators and allied groups who follow the union's priorities. Minnesota's mix of corn, soybeans, dairy, hogs, turkeys and specialty crops shows up in nearly every issue, and the state's federal statistics are available through USDA NASS Quick Stats.
Minnesota Agriculture readers already brave a February legislative session and a spring planting window in the same year, which calls for a sense of humor. farm.FM offers farm satire that would fit right after the hotdish recipe, with farm humor about co-op annual meetings and ranch humor for the beef herds up north. The farm jokes there are best read while waiting for the field to dry out.
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.
Minnesota Agriculture (Minnesota Farmers Union) Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Minnesota Farmers Union: About - history, priorities and staff.
- Minnesota Agriculture, May 2026 (PDF) - a recent full issue with masthead.
- Wikipedia: National Farmers Union - the national federation MFU belongs to.
- USDA NASS Quick Stats - Minnesota crop and livestock statistics.
- farmers.gov: NRCS no-till and cover crops - conservation guidance relevant to Minnesota farms.
Minnesota Agriculture (Minnesota Farmers Union) FAQ
What does Minnesota Farmers Union publish?
Its main publication is Minnesota Agriculture, a monthly newspaper for members, also posted as PDFs on mfu.org.
Who edits Minnesota Agriculture?
Janet Kubat Willette, MFU's communications director, is listed as editor; President Gary Wertish is publisher.
When was Minnesota Farmers Union founded?
In 1918, when its first local formed in Jackson County.
Can non-farmers join Minnesota Farmers Union?
Yes. MFU says membership is open to everyone.
Month after month, Minnesota Farmers Union uses Minnesota Agriculture to put state and federal farm policy into terms its members can act on.