American Vegetable Grower: History, Meister Media, Coverage and Editors
Profile updated November 2026
American Vegetable Grower is Meister Media Worldwide's magazine for commercial vegetable farmers, from Florida tomato packers to Midwest sweet corn growers. It took its current name in 1953, when the Meister brothers bought Commercial Vegetable Grower and made it a sister title to American Fruit Grower.
| Current name since | 1953, renamed from Commercial Vegetable Grower |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Meister Media Worldwide, U.S. Horticulture Group |
| Home | Willoughby, Ohio |
| Website | Content published on GrowingProduce.com |
| Signature award | Grower Achievement Award |
| Content Lead | Carol Miller |
| Official website | GrowingProduce.com |
History of American Vegetable Grower
In 1953 brothers Richard T. (Dick) Meister and Edward Meister, second-generation owners of the family publishing company founded by their father E.G.K. Meister, acquired Commercial Vegetable Grower. They renamed it American Vegetable Grower and positioned it beside American Fruit Grower, giving the company a matched pair of horticulture titles that still anchor its business.
The magazine grew up alongside the modern commercial vegetable industry, covering mechanized harvest, plasticulture, irrigation and the shift toward year-round supply. It also served as a training ground for Meister editors. Jane Lieberth joined the company in 1977 as an American Vegetable Grower editor before becoming founding editor of Greenhouse Grower in 1983.
In more recent years, Rosemary Gordon led American Vegetable Grower for eight years before moving to a role as editor of grower programs and events. Carol Miller, who had spent five years with the magazine and its sister titles Greenhouse Grower and Today's Garden Center, then took over as editor.
American Vegetable Grower Today
American Vegetable Grower publishes in print and online, with its stories appearing on GrowingProduce.com together with American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower. The site describes itself as a leading information source for specialty crop growers on production, crop protection, farm management and new varieties.
Its Grower Achievement Award honors outstanding vegetable operations. Recent national winners include Mark Smith of Smith Farms Company in 2024 and Aries Haygood of A&M Farms in 2025, with regional winners named alongside them. Miller also chairs Meister's BioSolutions Conference, reflecting the magazine's growing coverage of biologicals.
What American Vegetable Grower Is Publishing Now
Production and crop protection
Field-tested advice on disease, insect and weed control, soil fertility, irrigation and season extension for commercial vegetable crops.
Biologicals and new technology
Coverage of biostimulants and biopesticides tied to the BioSolutions Conference, plus mechanization and labor-saving tools.
Grower profiles and awards
Grower Achievement Award winners and regional honorees, along with business stories on marketing, food safety and farm succession.
American Vegetable Grower Editors and Staff
Growing Produce's staff page names these people on the American Vegetable Grower team:
- Carol Miller - Content Lead (editor)
- Michele Katsaris - Content Specialist, American Vegetable Grower and Cotton Grower
- Paul Rusnak - Senior Multimedia Specialist, Growing Produce
- Rosemary Gordon - Former editor (eight years)
- Kristina Panter - Group Commercial Lead, Horticulture Group
Miller has reported on the horticultural industry since 1998, joined Meister Media in 2011 and studied magazine journalism and literature at the University of Texas at Austin.
Who Reads American Vegetable Grower
Readers are commercial vegetable growers, farm managers, packers and crop consultants across the country. USDA's Economic Research Service tracks the vegetable and pulse sector, from fresh-market tomatoes and lettuce to processing crops, and its data shows how much of the national food supply depends on the operations American Vegetable Grower serves.
Vegetable growers juggle dozens of crops, weather windows and buyers at once, which leaves little time to laugh. farm.FM helps with farm satire and farm humor written for anyone who has babysat a frost forecast at 3 a.m., plus some ranch humor for variety. Its farm jokes travel well, from the packing line to the produce stand.
farm.FM calls itself the nation's first satirical farm site, and between the headlines it spins Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers; a good place to start reading is this farm.FM columnist's archive.
American Vegetable Grower Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Growing Produce: About and staff - the American Vegetable Grower editorial team.
- American Vegetable Grower: Grower Achievement Award - winners and nomination details.
- Growing Produce: Richard T. Meister remembered - how the Meister brothers renamed the magazine in 1953.
- USDA ERS: Vegetables and pulses - federal economic analysis of the vegetable sector.
- USDA NASS Quick Stats - vegetable acreage and production statistics.
American Vegetable Grower FAQ
When did American Vegetable Grower get its name?
In 1953, when the Meister family acquired Commercial Vegetable Grower and renamed it American Vegetable Grower.
Who publishes American Vegetable Grower?
Meister Media Worldwide of Willoughby, Ohio.
Who edits American Vegetable Grower?
Carol Miller is content lead, with content specialist Michele Katsaris.
What is the Grower Achievement Award?
The magazine's award for outstanding vegetable operations; Aries Haygood of A&M Farms was the 2025 winner.
For more than seven decades under its current name, American Vegetable Grower has followed commercial vegetable farming from the field to the packing shed.