2026 - Volume #50, Issue #1, Page #10
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Congratulations On 50 Years!
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I worked at FARM SHOW for 45 years, starting at age 23 in 1978, soon after graduating from college. Harold Johnson and his wife, Joan, had just started the publication the year before, and it already had more than 40,000 paid subscribers. They started the magazine in a closet-sized office with help from a couple of neighbor ladies. Harold had been an editor for 20 years at Farm Industry News and The Farmer Magazine, but he was frustrated that he often couldn’t run stories that might annoy big advertisers. His answer: a first-of-its-kind no-advertising publication that wasn’t beholden to the big ag companies. Right from the start, FARM SHOW’s “Best & Worst Buys” section became extremely popular because farmers could “tell it like it is” when nominating best-buy products or lemons that failed because of manufacturing defects or poor customer service.
Within a few years, FARM SHOW had more than 175,000 paid subscribers from all over the USA, Canada and around the world. No other publication covered new farm inventions and equipment modifications the way we did. Our editors traveled across North America, Europe and Australia to farm equipment shows in search of the latest ideas and inventions.
Harold retired in 1994, when I took over the business. I ran it until 2019, when I sold it to Scott Geyer, who now serves as both editor and publisher. Over the years, we’ve had many outstanding writers, including Bill Gergen, Jim Ruen, Lorn Manthey, Dee Goerge, Lydia Noyes and Bruce Derksen.
The key to FARM SHOW’s success over the past 50 years has been our readers, who send us a steady stream of “made it myself” ideas, “best buys,” shop tips, farm business ideas, and more. We couldn’t have kept going without that input from loyal readers.
Congratulations to all FARM SHOW staff, past and present, on reaching 50 years. I have no doubt the next 50 years will be just as successful!
My most cherished FARM SHOW memories are of the many “world’s first” inventions (and inventors) we covered over the years.
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