The Packer: History, Farm Journal Ownership, Coverage and Editors
Profile updated November 2026
The Packer has reported on the fresh fruit and vegetable business since February 1893, making it one of the oldest trade papers in American agriculture. Founded in Kansas City and now owned by Farm Journal, it serves growers, shippers and the retail and foodservice buyers who move produce to consumers.
| First issue | February 1893, Kansas City, Missouri |
|---|---|
| Founder | Isaac N. Barrick |
| Owner | Farm Journal, since December 2015 |
| Previous owner | Vance Publishing, 1964-2015 |
| Base | Lenexa, Kansas |
| Editorial director | Jennifer Strailey |
| Official website | ThePacker.com |
History of The Packer
Isaac N. Barrick published the first issue of The Packer in Kansas City in February 1893. It began with a focus on meat packing but quickly broadened to farm produce, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs and packing materials. After Barrick died in 1903, George A. Gurley, a former advertising manager at Armour, took over, and the Gurley family ran the paper for 61 years. Roy Fellhauer, who joined in 1911, became general manager and editor.
In the 1920s the paper faced libel suits over its reporting on dishonest dealers, and in 1930 it backed the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, the federal law that still governs fair trading in fresh produce. In 1964 the Gurleys sold Packer Publishing Co. to Vance Publishing of Chicago, which launched spinoffs, created the Pronet electronic news service in 1984 and began daily online updates in 2000.
Farm Journal bought The Packer from Vance in December 2015. Tom Karst, who joined as a markets editor in the Vance era and spent nearly 40 years with the paper, became editor in 2018 and editor emeritus in 2022. The Packer marked its centennial in 1993 and later published a 125th anniversary retrospective, Looking Back then Forward to Century Two.
The Packer Today
The Packer publishes in print and online at ThePacker.com, which is updated throughout the day. In June 2022, marking 129 years, it introduced a redesigned print edition with a new layout, front-page callouts for category supplements and trending topics, more grower and shipper coverage and deeper retail stories on consumer insights.
Jennifer Strailey, who joined from Winsight Grocery Business in 2022, leads the paper as editorial director for produce. Farm Journal also runs produce events, including the East Coast Produce Expo held January 11-13, 2026, in Aventura, Florida, where Strailey presented on fresh produce consumer trends. The Packer and its website have been finalists for the Jesse H. Neal Award for business journalism.
What The Packer Is Publishing Now
Markets and commodities
Supply, pricing and crop news for North American fruit and vegetables, plus imports and exports.
Retail and foodservice
Merchandising, category management and consumer insights for the buyers who are the paper's core readers.
Policy and industry
Legislation, food safety, nutrition, labor and the companies and people of the produce supply chain.
The Packer Editors and Staff
Farm Journal announcements and event listings name:
- Jennifer Strailey - Editorial Director, Produce
- Tom Karst - Editor Emeritus (editor 2018-2022)
- Matt Morgan - Executive Vice President, Produce, Farm Journal
- Isaac N. Barrick - Founder (1893), died 1903
- Roy Fellhauer - Former general manager and editor (from 1911)
Who Reads The Packer
Readers are primarily retail and foodservice produce buyers, along with growers, shippers, wholesalers and importers. USDA's Economic Research Service tracks the fruit and vegetable sectors those readers buy from; vegetables and pulses alone averaged $24.2 billion a year in farm cash receipts from 2020 to 2024.
Produce buyers and shippers spend their days haggling over cartons of lettuce that will not last the week, so a good laugh has real shelf life. farm.FM serves farm satire and farm humor about the long road from field to grocery shelf, with ranch humor for the beef aisle. Its farm jokes stay fresh longer than berries.
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.
The Packer Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Wikipedia: The Packer - an overview of the paper and its ownership.
- The Packer at 125: Looking back - the paper's own history from 1893.
- The Packer: Content team transitions - the 2022 editor change.
- USDA ERS: Vegetables and pulses - federal vegetable sector economics.
- USDA ERS: Fruit and tree nuts data - federal fruit price and trade data.
The Packer FAQ
When was The Packer founded?
Isaac N. Barrick published the first issue in Kansas City in February 1893.
Who owns The Packer?
Farm Journal, which bought it from Vance Publishing in December 2015.
Who edits The Packer?
Jennifer Strailey is editorial director; Tom Karst is editor emeritus.
Who reads The Packer?
Mainly retail and foodservice produce buyers, plus growers, shippers and wholesalers.
More than 130 years after its first Kansas City issue, The Packer remains the produce industry's paper of record.