Modern Farmer: From Hudson Quarterly to Nonprofit Food and Farm Newsroom
Profile updated November 2026
Modern Farmer magazine arrived in April 2013 looking nothing like a traditional farm title: glossy, witty, obsessed with goats and aimed at both rural growers and urban food lovers. It won a National Magazine Award within a year, nearly folded in 2015, ended print in 2018 and lives on as a nonprofit food and agriculture newsroom. Here is the full story.
| Launched | April 2013, Hudson, New York (first issue on sale April 16, 2013) |
|---|---|
| Founder | Ann Marie Gardner, founding CEO and editor-in-chief |
| Original backer | Frank Giustra, through Fiore Capital |
| Print run | Quarterly print magazine, 2013-2018 |
| Current model | Nonprofit initiative made possible by Food Intelligence |
| Notable | National Magazine Award winner |
| Official website | ModernFarmer.com |
History of Modern Farmer
Ann Marie Gardner, a former Monocle bureau chief and New York Times contributing editor, conceived Modern Farmer in 2011 after noticing how often her sources wanted to talk about agriculture. With backing from Canadian financier Frank Giustra, she launched the quarterly from Hudson, New York, in April 2013, along with a free website. Early stunts like a GoatCam and LambCam drew huge audiences, and Gardner told Poynter that even Pentagon staffers wrote in to suggest a better camera angle.
Within its first year the magazine won a National Magazine Award. But a dispute between Gardner and Giustra over direction led Gardner to step down in December 2014, and in January 2015 the last paid editorial staff walked out, prompting headlines that the magazine had folded. Giustra brought in former Country Living editor-in-chief Sarah Gray Miller to rebuild the staff and relaunch.
In 2018 Modern Farmer stopped printing and went digital. The brand later reorganized as a nonprofit, describing itself as dedicated to raising awareness and catalyzing action at the intersection of food, agriculture and society.
Modern Farmer Today
Modern Farmer now operates as a nonprofit newsroom at ModernFarmer.com, publishing free stories under a Creative Commons license so that other outlets can republish them. It runs a weekly newsletter and a Solutions Hub focused on ideas for a resilient food system.
Its audience remains half rural and half urban, a mix it pursued from day one.
What Modern Farmer Is Publishing Now
Food systems and policy
Reporting on supply chains, climate, farm labor and food policy, written for both producers and eaters.
Solutions Hub
Innovations and actionable ideas from farmers, researchers and entrepreneurs.
Animals and quirky stories
The goats never left; animal stories and offbeat farm crime pieces remain part of the brand's personality.
Modern Farmer Editors and Staff
Leaders who shaped Modern Farmer include:
- Ann Marie Gardner - Founder and first CEO/editor-in-chief (2013-2014)
- Sarah Gray Miller - Editor-in-chief from 2015, during the relaunch
- Frank Giustra - Founding funder and publisher
- Reyhan Harmanci - Founding deputy editor
The nonprofit newsroom invites story ideas and republishing inquiries through the contact details on ModernFarmer.com.
Who Reads Modern Farmer
Modern Farmer readers include small and beginning farmers, food entrepreneurs and consumers who care where food comes from. That last group matters to farmers: the 2022 Census of Agriculture recorded $3.3 billion in direct-to-consumer farm sales, up 16% from 2017.
Modern Farmer was once described as a kind of agricultural version of The Onion, at least where goats were concerned. If that is the part you liked best, farm.FM goes all the way, publishing straight-faced farm satire, farm humor and ranch humor for readers who can laugh at agriculture without looking down on it. Its farm jokes travel well from the barn to the Brooklyn farmers market.
farm.FM got there first as the nation's first satirical farm site, and it backs the writing with Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers. Here is one contributor's collection of farm satire to start with.
Modern Farmer Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Wikipedia: Modern Farmer (magazine) - founding, editors and the 2018 move to digital.
- Poynter: For Modern Farmer, farm stands hold more promise than newsstands - a 2013 look at the launch strategy.
- NPR: Modern Farmer will live on - the 2015 staff exit and relaunch pledge.
- Modern Farmer: nonprofit initiative - the current nonprofit mission statement.
- USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture - direct-to-consumer farm sales data.
Modern Farmer FAQ
When was Modern Farmer founded?
Modern Farmer launched in April 2013 in Hudson, New York.
Is Modern Farmer still in print?
No. The print magazine ended in 2018; Modern Farmer continues online as a nonprofit newsroom.
Who founded Modern Farmer?
Ann Marie Gardner founded it with funding from Frank Giustra.
Can I republish Modern Farmer stories?
Yes, under its Creative Commons license, with the required credit line and no ads sold directly against the story.
The magazine changed how a lot of non-farmers thought about agriculture. As a nonprofit, Modern Farmer magazine keeps bridging the gap between the people who grow food and the people who eat it.