Betsy Freese

Betsy Freese is an American editor, blogger, and radio personality who focuses on small and large-scale agriculture journalism as executive editor for Successful Farming and Living the Country Life. She was the host of both the Living the Country Life radio series and TV show. She produces the exclusive annual Pork Powerhouses ranking of the largest 25 pork producers in the U.S. and Canada. She was exposed to agriculture from a young age through her father, Phil Johnson, who raised pigs and grew corn. There she met her future husband, Robert Freese, who was a major in animal science. She served as Issue Editor for the Iowa State University Yearbook, writing stories on agriculture and politics.

In the early 2000s, Betsy began working on a new project under Meredith Corporation aimed at small farms and acreages. Freese recognized that agricultural journalists needed to expand past just using print media into new forms such as the internet. This culminated in Living the Country Life, which would consist of a quarterly magazine, internet presence via blogging, radio and television show. The Living the Country Life magazine was first released in 2002 and is produced quarterly. Freese was chosen to host the TV program because of her passion for country living as well as believability on the topic of running a small farm. Betsy hosted the first four seasons of the show, while a fifth was hosted separately.

The Living the Country Life radio show launched in 2007, and continues to air on 307 stations reaching 1.9 million listeners. 2005 - Writer of Merit, American Agricultural Editors’ Association 2009 - Bill Zipf Presidential Award, North American Agricultural Journalists 2015 - President's Award, American Agricultural Editors’ Association 2016 - Fellow, American Agricultural Editors’ Association