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Welcome Betty Haynes, the newest member of Prairie Farmer’s editorial staff.

September 7, 2022

2 Min Read
Betty Haynes posing with camera in hand against cornfield backdrop
SHOOT: Betty Haynes is Prairie Farmer’s new associate editor. She’ll write about Illinois agriculture from the view of her family’s farm in Petersburg, Ill. MiKayla Thomas

It takes a certain amount of grit and gumption to both start a new job and start it the week of the Farm Progress Show — but that’s what Betty Haynes did last week, as she dove into her new position as associate editor here at Prairie Farmer.

Overwhelming? Possibly. But Betty’s a Menard County, Ill., farm kid who’s now farming with her husband in the same place she grew up. And if there’s anything a farm family knows, it’s digging deep when life is hard and busy and fun.

Sure enough, Betty dove in. She helped me scout out new products at the Farm Progress Show, covered press conferences and shot photos all over the place. At the Lee Brice concert Wednesday night, she asked how close she could get to take photos, and I told her the FPS shirt she was wearing would take her a long way. Basically, keep going until someone tells you to stop. We looked up a few minutes later and there was Betty — on stage! Shooting photos of the crowd, having a ball.

Obviously, she hit the ground running, and you’ll get to see those photos later this week in a massive FPS photo story.

Betty graduated from the University of Missouri and worked most recently for the Illinois Beef Association, entirely managing and editing its publication. She and her husband, Dan, raise corn, soybeans and cattle with her family near Petersburg, Ill., and are parents to Clare. Betty recently won this year’s Emerging Photographer Award from the Ag Communicators Network during the 2022 Ag Media Summit and placed in the Emerging Writer category as well.

For 181 years now, Prairie Farmer has had a long tradition of telling farmers’ stories. And over all those years, our editorial team has been dedicated to telling the farmer’s story, to sharing information that’s both valuable and profitable, and to doing our best every day. I’m really excited to welcome Betty into that tradition.

Comments? Email [email protected].

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