Southeast Farm Press: History, Farm Progress Ownership, Coverage and Editors
Profile updated November 2026
Southeast Farm Press was born in 1974, when the Mississippi company behind Delta Farm Press decided the cotton, peanut and tobacco farmers of the Southeast needed a paper of their own. Five decades on it is a Farm Progress brand, edited by journalists who have covered Southern agriculture for most of their careers.
| Launched | 1974 |
|---|---|
| Original company | Farm Press Publications, Clarksdale, Mississippi |
| Sister titles | Delta Farm Press (1943), Southwest Farm Press (1974), Western Farm Press (1979) |
| Publisher | Farm Progress, part of Informa |
| Coverage | Southeastern row crop and specialty crop agriculture |
| Longtime writer | John Hart |
| Official website | Southeast Farm Press on FarmProgress.com |
History of Southeast Farm Press
Farm Press started in 1943 as a weekly farm supplement to The Clarksdale Daily Press in Mississippi, spun off in the 1960s and spread across the Mid-South. In 1974 the company launched two new regional papers, Southeast Farm Press and Southwest Farm Press, and five years later it added a western edition for Arizona and California.
The company was built by William S. McNamee, president and sole stockholder of Farm Press Publications in Clarksdale, whose four papers together reached about 250,000 farmers and agribusiness people in 20 states. McNamee hired Glen Rutz, a Missouri farm boy and Vietnam veteran, to write for Farm Press in the early 1970s. Rutz spent five decades with the company, finishing as managing editor of Southeast Farm Press before retiring in December 2022, an exit announced in a column by Brad Haire.
Southeast Farm Press is now one of the Farm Progress brands owned by Informa. Its long record of steady publication has been the subject of the magazine's own commentary on decades of timely reliability.
Southeast Farm Press Today
Farm Progress lists Southeast Farm Press among its 14 state and regional brands. Like its Delta sister, it is produced remotely, with Farm Press staff working from home offices across four regions after the Clarksdale office emptied during the pandemic, and its issues appear both in print and as digital editions.
Farm Press issue lists include special editions tied to the Sunbelt Ag Expo, the major Southeastern farm show, along with production guides.
What Southeast Farm Press Is Publishing Now
Peanuts, cotton and tobacco
Production, variety and market coverage for the signature crops of Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Florida and Virginia.
Grains and specialty crops
Corn, soybean, wheat and vegetable coverage, plus research news from Southeastern land-grant universities.
Livestock and farm business
Cattle stories, some shared with BEEF, plus farm policy, labor and markets.
Southeast Farm Press Editors and Staff
Farm Progress author pages, Farm Press commentary and editorial contact lists name:
- John Hart - Southeast Farm Press writer and editorial contact
- Whitney Haigwood - Farm Press, Farm Progress South region
- Brad Haire - Farm Press writer and columnist
- Glen Rutz - Former managing editor (retired December 2022)
- William S. McNamee - Farm Press founder and longtime owner
John Hart's byline also appears in BEEF, reflecting the cattle side of Southeastern agriculture.
Who Reads Southeast Farm Press
Readers are commercial farmers and agribusiness people across the Southeast, from Georgia peanut growers to Carolina tobacco and cotton farmers. USDA NASS Quick Stats documents the region's peanut, cotton and tobacco production, and the 2022 Census of Agriculture shows how family farms still dominate the region's rural economy.
Southeast Farm Press readers grow the peanuts in America's peanut butter and the cotton in its jeans, and they have earned some fun along the way. farm.FM serves farm satire with a Southern drawl, farm humor about boll weevils and sweet tea, ranch humor for the cow-calf herds in the piney woods and farm jokes good enough to tell at the Sunbelt Expo. Have one ready before the peanut digger rolls.
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.
Southeast Farm Press Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Southeast Farm Press: Years of timely reliability - the magazine's commentary on its publishing record.
- Farm Press: After 50 years, Glen Rutz retires - a career at Farm Press and Southeast Farm Press.
- Missouri School of Journalism: William S. McNamee - the Farm Press owner and his four papers.
- USDA NASS Quick Stats - Southeastern peanut, cotton and tobacco data.
- USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture - national farm structure and family farms.
Southeast Farm Press FAQ
When was Southeast Farm Press founded?
In 1974, by the Clarksdale, Mississippi company that published Delta Farm Press.
Who publishes Southeast Farm Press?
Farm Progress, a division of Informa.
Who writes for Southeast Farm Press?
Longtime writer John Hart and other Farm Press staff in the South region.
Which crops does Southeast Farm Press cover?
Peanuts, cotton, tobacco, grains and specialty crops across the Southeast.
Fifty years after its launch, Southeast Farm Press remains a steady voice for the row crop farmers of the South.