Alan Guebert is an award-winning agricultural journalist and expert who was raised on an 800-acre, 100-cow southern Illinois dairy farm. After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1980, he worked as a writer and senior editor at Professional Farmers of America and Successful Farming magazine. In 1984, Guebert returned to Illinois to establish his free-lance writing business and to serve as a contributing editor to Farm Journal magazine.
He began his syndicated agriculture column “The Farm and Food File” in 1993 and it now appears weekly in more than 70 newspapers throughout the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. In addition to his weekly syndicated column, Alan writes “View From the Levee,” a bi-weekly column for the online publication Daily Yonder.
Guebert also wrote ''Letter from America,'' a monthly perspective on U.S. farm and food policy for European and Asian publications. “Letter from America” ran from 1995 through 2007.
Throughout his career, Guebert has won numerous awards and accolades for his magazine and newspaper work. In 1997, the American Agricultural Editors' Association honored him with its highest awards, Writer of the Year and Master Writer.
Alan resides with his wife, the lovely Catherine, a social worker, in rural Delavan, Illinois. Their two adult children, Paul, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, and Gracie, a writer and editor, reside in the Chicago area.
When he’s not writing, Alan enjoys chopping wood for the home fire, fishing anywhere between Illinois and Canada, playing cards with neighbors, and herding the livestock: a 12 year-old labrador retriever named Maggie.
Photos Courtesy of Joe Proctor