Editors' Notebook

We kick off the 2026 calendar year with some shifts in the DTN and Progressive Farmer family, with more exciting changes to come in the next 12 months.

First, there's an anniversary to recognize. This year marks the 140th that Progressive Farmer magazine has been in print. It's an amazing feat when you think of the many changes that have occurred in those 140 years.

Progressive Farmer is a chronicler of how agriculture rose to the challenges of Reconstruction, struggled through the Great Depression, provided the food and fiber needs of a country caught up in two world wars, and worked through the post-war technology boom and the massive agriculture industry consolidation still happening today.

Over those 14 decades, Progressive Farmer has endured the challenges and has never strayed from its mission to serve farmers, ranchers and the agriculture industry.

Another amazing fact? During that span Progressive Farmer has had only seven chief editors.

This month, we recognize the eighth person, and the first female, to hold the Editor-in-Chief title. Katie Dehlinger started her career at DTN as an enthusiastic intern, a senior student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She was most recently DTN Farm Business Editor and for many years has led our DTN Ag Summit series of webinars. She takes over the magazine's reins with its January 2026 issue.

I vividly remember DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton coming into the newsroom in early 2008 and talking about a young journalism student he'd met during an internship meet-and-greet. She grew up in the suburbs of northwestern Illinois, but had an interest in agriculture and had written a first-class article on how changes in the ethanol rules would affect Midwestern farmers.

You can read more about Katie's background and belief system in her introductory piece in the January Progressive Farmer issue, or in the digital version of the January issue here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

The short story is Katie impressed our staff so much that then Editor-in-Chief Urban Lehner quickly pushed to offer her a permanent position after graduating. She started as a DTN wire copy editor, then moved to reporting duties, eventually to become DTN Markets Editor. While she excelled in print, Katie long had an interest in the video side of journalism, so when RFD-TV made her an offer to become an executive producer, she took it. I was truly sad to see her leave, but I've long been a believer that everyone needs to find their own path.

At RFD she quickly helped that fledgling broadcast news team put more farmer-focused content into their daily coverage. There was definitely more grain and less chaff in the way RFD covered farm subjects after she arrived. While I frowned at a news competitor getting stronger, it was also a joy to watch Katie flourish and hear the praises her new bosses shared.

When we tragically lost Executive Editor Marcia Zarley Taylor to cancer several years later in 2017, I struggled to find an adequate replacement for the farm business beat. Farm business issues were so central to our coverage, and Marcia left massive shoes to fill. We needed someone who understood and appreciated how the farm business, with its inseparable connection to family and to the legacy of the land, made it unique in how it responded to business challenges. Someone dedicated both to those farmers and to the craft of journalism. My colleagues in the DTN Human Resources department were on my tail to fill the empty position. I kept pushing back, waiting for that right person. Days turned into weeks into months.

Then one chilly afternoon, as I exited a Washington, D.C., Metro station enroute to a hotel, my cell phone rang.

It was Katie, who in characteristic style exchanged a few quick pleasantries then got straight to the point: Had I filled the Farm Business Editor's position? No, I answered, and looked for a bench out of the wind. She talked about enjoying the broadcast world, but had always considered Marcia a mentor and role model. She knew how important the farm business beat, with myriad farm support programs and financial nuances and labor issues, was as critical to a modern farm enterprise's success as was raising crops or animals to sell. We talked about those issues. We talked about Marcia, and those shoes to fill. My next call was to Chris Clayton, whose eye for talent had brought Katie to DTN those many years before. Chris, it should be said, was also on my tail to get the farm business beat covered. "I think I've found our Farm Business editor," I shared. I can't print his exact exclamation when I said Katie's name, but it ended with "awesome."

Katie now has another pair of shoes to fill, and I know she will give her everything to continue the strong legacy Progressive Farmer has set.

Speaking of those shoes and the legacy they represent, we're also saying a goodbye of sorts to Gregg Hillyer, who for 15 years was the seventh editor-in-chief of Progressive Farmer. While I'm excited for Katie, this part of the change isn't easy for me. Gregg and I have known, respected, even competed against each other for more than 40 years. Gregg, as then-editor of Soybean Digest magazine, was the first to offer me a real journalism job when I graduated from MU's School of Journalism.

As it happens, I turned him down for another magazine I'd grown up reading and respecting. But through the years we continued to be colleagues in this industry, and I always hoped to get another opportunity to work with him. That came when I was hired at DTN, which had just acquired Progressive Farmer. The opportunity to finally work side by side with Gregg was part of my decision.

It has been one of the professional and personal joys of my career to have spent the past 18 years working with him, most of which as we teamed up to lead the DTN and Progressive Farmer editorial teams. Gregg has won practically every writing award there is to win in this business, many of them multiple times. He's been a leader in the ag press industry and was recently given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ag Communicators Network, agriculture's largest professional organization for journalists and ag communicators. The award is ACN's highest honor, "recognizing a career of excellence, service, and dedication to agricultural journalism." Gregg also is a Fellow and former board member of the Farm Foundation.

But more than that, he's an Iowa farmboy who, like many of us, continues to carry a deep love and respect for agriculture along with a serious dedication to journalism.

You'll still see Gregg's byline from time to time. Rest assured, his cell phone number is never far from my thumb. So he's not escaping completely. But it will be strange to be in key meetings and not turn to get Gregg's careful, thoughtful take on things. I miss him already!

Change is a part of life, and necessary in a business that has to keep up with the changes around us. We'll have more shifts and announcements in the year to come as we work ever harder to give you the news, the information, the analysis and the tools to grow your businesses and build your families. We're excited about the coming year, and hope you are as well. Here's to the next 140.

Greg Horstmeier can be reached at greg.horstmeier@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @greghorstmeier

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.