Small Farmer's Journal: History, Horse Farming Focus, Content and Staff
Profile updated November 2026
Small Farmer's Journal is an oversized, 11-by-14-inch quarterly that has argued for the independent family farm, and for farming with horses, since 1976. Founded and still edited by Lynn R. Miller in Sisters, Oregon, it goes to readers in 72 countries.
| Founded | 1976 |
|---|---|
| Founder and editor/publisher | Lynn R. Miller |
| Home | 215 N. Cedar St., Sisters, Oregon |
| Frequency | Quarterly, large 11 x 14 inch format |
| Reach | All 50 states, all Canadian provinces and 72 countries |
| Ownership | Small Farmer's Journal Inc., a family-held Oregon corporation |
| Official website | SmallFarmersJournal.com |
History of Small Farmer's Journal
Lynn R. Miller, a painter with art degrees from the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of Oregon, started farming in 1970 and founded Small Farmer's Journal in 1976, encouraged by his father to grow a crop of literature to help fledgling small farmers. He has edited and published every issue since.
By the early 1980s the Journal had about 20,000 subscribers and was making the case for horse farming as an alternative to machine-intensive, petroleum-dependent agriculture. Miller's Work Horse Handbook became a standard text. He lost two early farms, one to urban sprawl and one to the high interest rates of the 1980s, before moving to Sisters Country in 1988.
Miller and his wife, Kristi Gilman-Miller, built the Journal into a family business with a bookstore, a Workhorse Library of manuals and an annual auction and swap meet at the Sisters Rodeo Grounds. The magazine passed its 188th edition in 2024.
Small Farmer's Journal Today
The Journal still prints on its large format and describes itself as more like a community odyssey than a periodical, packed with more than three or four conventional magazines' worth of material. It has kept print at the center while many similar publications disappeared.
It also sells books, back issues and manuals, and Miller has published more than 20 books, including novels in his Duden Chronicles.
What Small Farmer's Journal Is Publishing Now
Animal power
Draft horse and mule farming, harness, horse-drawn equipment and teamster skills are the Journal's signature.
Crops, soil and livestock
Practical small-farm husbandry, soil fertility and diversified crop and livestock systems.
Philosophy, art and humor
Essays on independence, craftsmanship and diversity, Miller's own art and fiction, and plenty of good humor, part of its stated mission.
Small Farmer's Journal Editors and Staff
Small Farmer's Journal lists a small staff on its contact page:
- Lynn R. Miller - Editor, Publisher and Founder
- Kristi Gilman-Miller - Co-publisher
- Darwhin Torres - Office Manager
Submissions and questions: agrarian@smallfarmersjournal.com, PO Box 1627, Sisters, Oregon 97759.
Who Reads Small Farmer's Journal
Readers are small and diversified farmers, horse farmers, homesteaders and agrarian thinkers worldwide. With 74% of U.S. farms selling $50,000 or less a year, per the 2022 Census of Agriculture, the small family operation the Journal defends is still the most common farm in America.
Small Farmer's Journal has always promised good humor alongside its horse-farming advice, and its readers know a well-told farm story when they see one. For more in that vein, farm.FM publishes farm satire and farm humor with a deadpan rural voice, plus ranch humor for the cowboys among the teamsters. Its farm jokes require no diesel, which seems appropriate.
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.
Small Farmer's Journal Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Wikipedia: Small Farmer's Journal - a short overview of the quarterly.
- Nugget News: Small Farmer's Journal big on content - local Sisters coverage of the Journal.
- Portland State University Library: RAIN magazine, 1982 - an early review of the Journal's horse-farming case.
- ATTRA (NCAT): Census insight - small and sustainable farm statistics.
- Wyoming Livestock Roundup: 2022 Census summary - small-farm share of U.S. farms.
Small Farmer's Journal FAQ
Who publishes Small Farmer's Journal?
Founder Lynn R. Miller publishes it with his wife, Kristi Gilman-Miller, through Small Farmer's Journal Inc. in Sisters, Oregon.
How often is Small Farmer's Journal published?
Quarterly, in a large 11 x 14 inch format.
What is Small Farmer's Journal known for?
Advocacy for independent family farms and practical coverage of farming with draft horses and mules.
How do I contact Small Farmer's Journal?
Email agrarian@smallfarmersjournal.com or write to PO Box 1627, Sisters, Oregon 97759.
Fifty years after Lynn Miller started it, Small Farmer's Journal still makes the case, issue after hefty issue, that small farms and good horses have a future.