Iowa Farmer Today - Iowa Farmer Today was launched Sept. 8, 1984 at a time when the tremors of the farm crisis were being felt throughout the Midwest.

Publisher Steve DeWitt held discussions for several months with the Cedar Rapids Gazette for the need for a publication focused entirely on the issues facing Iowa's farmers. The complicated business of farming and the emotion of the rural lifestyle were not being fully addressed by the ag media in the early 1980s.

Through the 1980s and 1990s and into the new millennium, Iowa Farmer Today has covered presidential elections, shifting farm legislation, droughts and floods, the debt crisis of the early '80s, the commodity price crisis of the late '90s, the ongoing debate surrounding genetically enhanced crops, improvements in equipment, industry consolidation, advances in crop and livestock production and the unique aspects of farm families and lifestyles. The editors are committed to presenting practical, relevant and timely news and information farmers can put to use on their farms. The editorial mix contains stories ranging from global to local in scope, high-tech to nuts-and-bolts, production to politics.

The company's main product is Iowa Farmer Today, a tabloid distributed to 70,000 farm owners and operators in and around Iowa each week. IFT also publishes Midwest Marketer, a weekly, tab sized beef publication and Equipment Connection, a book-sized machinery and equipment guide. Electronic services include Iowa Farmer Today Online, the company's home page on the World Wide Web at www.IowaFarmerToday.com.

The staff of 34 includes an award-winning editorial department with extensive knowledge of farming and more than 135 years of journalism experience. The editors have earned numerous distinguished writing, photography and design awards, including honors from the National Association of Agricultural Journalists, Oscars in Agriculture, American Agricultural Editors' Association, the Livestock Publications Council and other groups. In the past year, those awards include:

1st place - LPC overall newspaper design

1st place - LPC website

3rd place - NAAJ special projects

Honorable mention - LPC general excellence

Honorable mention - LPC technical article

Honorable mention - LPC humorous writing

IFT Publications, Inc.'s home office is in Cedar Rapids, with satellite offices in Ankeny, Glenwood, Bloomfield and Maxwell. Iowa Farmer Today became a property of Lee Enterprises on July 1, 2004.