Editors' Notebook

The 2026 crop season is going to be one of a lot of change here in the DTN newsroom. For the past 18 years or so, our team of writers, editors, analysts and multi-media experts has been fairly stable. But like a lot of agriculture, and U.S. society in general, a bunch of us are getting to that "certain age" that inevitably means change is going to come.

The technology around how we do what we do is also constantly changing, and that will be manifesting itself in some new looks, feels and capabilities. Stay tuned on that front, there will be more to share throughout the summer and fall.

In the meantime, we have some new faces to welcome.

Someone a bit more behind the scenes is Content Editor Kevin Mims, who joins the DTN team that literally makes sure we dot the i's and cross the t's, and works to get those breaking news stories into your hands as quickly as possible.

Kevin cut his early editing and content creation teeth in the tourism world in Florida and Georgia. But, growing up in south Georgia he was always surrounded by farming and rural communities. "I've always been an ag kid at heart, so working on the spectrum of stories we cover here at DTN, from daily market news to the broader policy and production stories, has been a lot of fun." Kevin lives in the north Georgia mountains today, where hiking, paddling and other outdoor activities take up the bulk of his free time.

Gregg Hillyer's retirement from the helm of Progressive Farmer magazine started a domino cascade that's changed up several spots on our staff roster. Long time DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton has moved into the role of Farm Business Editor, a slot vacated when Katie Dehlinger took over as Progressive Farmer's magazine editor. For more on that, see here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

So, we welcome a new face covering the fast-moving ag policy beat. You've likely already seen Jake Zajkowski's byline: He's been all over the latest conversations around a new farm bill. Jake comes to us as a recent graduate from Cornell University, where he began what he thought was to be a career in growing food crops.

As with many in his generation, Jake's connection to farming is indirect. There were farmers in his background, but he grew up in the 'burbs, of northwestern Ohio in this case. His father's family were Ohio potato farmers, and his mother knew the labors of a southern Ohio dairy.

"There was always an agricultural root there, but my actual intro into plant agricultural was in the green (landscape) industry." An early love of all things outdoors led to his starting a landscape business at age 12, something he'd continue until college. High school added FFA to his ag mix, where his experiences as an Ohio state FFA officer led to travel to a wide variety of agricultural areas and states. It all culminated in his heading to Cornell University to study plant sciences, with that goal of getting involved in food production.

There, the journalism bug struck. He landed a spot as a field reporter for a farm radio outlet and quickly saw the value of delivering news to farmers to help them make daily marketing and business decisions. An internship with the ag policy news organization Agri-Pulse fed that news-delivery bug and revealed a growing interest in the government policy side of farming.

"I learned that I had a lot to say about agriculture, and I found the best way to communicate that was to investigate it and write about it," Jake said.

That deep curiosity for science and policy, and powerful need to share what's learned, will serve Jake well wandering the Washington halls and committee hearing rooms for DTN.

He'll get ample opportunity. Jake picks up the ag policy beat in the middle of a farm bill debate, post-tariff trade negotiations, national food security challenges such as New World screwworm and the coming battles over what it means to "make America healthy again."

"I've worked in plant breeding labs, I understand seeds and biotechnology. I've also worked for legislators. So I think there is a really fun interaction to know how the policy scene works, to understand what the science says and how farmers and politicians and other interest groups interpret all that, and to try to provide insights into what farmers can anticipate in legislation and regulatory changes and global trade conflicts and (what that means) to market volatility," Jake said.

He's already putting those experiences to work to do what we do best here at DTN -- giving you the information and insights you need to make daily farm business decisions.

For more about Jake, watch our Ag Policy blog space here https://www.dtnpf.com/….

We welcome both Kevin and Jake and are excited to have them as part of the DTN/Progressive Farmer team. As I said, we have a lot of changes and new approaches coming this season, so I invite you to stay tuned.

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

Follow him on social platform X @greghorstmeier

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