Betsy Freese

Betsy began her career at Meredith Corporation, working for the farming focused magazine Successful Farming.^[1] There she started her annual exclusive article Pork Powerhouses, which ranks the largest 25 pork producers in the U.S. and Canada.^[7]

In the early 2000s, Betsy began working on a new project under Meredith Corporation aimed at small farms and acreages. Betsy recognized that agricultural journalists needed to expand past just using print media into new forms such as the internet.^[12] This culminated in Living the Country Life, which would consist of a quarterly magazine, internet presence via blogging, radio and television show.^[13][14] The Living the Country Life magazine was first released in 2002 and is produced quarterly.^[13][14]

Launched in 2004, the Living the Country Life television show aired on RFD-TV, running for a total of 5 seasons.^{[5][15][16][17]} Betsy 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.^[18] Betsy hosted the first four seasons of the show, while a fifth was hosted separately.^[19]

The Living the Country Life radio show launched in 2007, and continues to air on 307 stations reaching 1.9 million listeners.^{[4][13][14][15]} The show is hosted by Betsy Freese and Jodi Henke and features stories and advice on small farms and acreages.^[13]

• 1993 - Master Writer, American Agricultural Editors’ Association
• 1994 - Oscar in Agriculture
• 2003 - Award for Best Team Story, American Agricultural Editors' Association^[20]
• 2005 - Writer of Merit, American Agricultural Editors’ Association
• 2009 - Bill Zipf Presidential Award, North American Agricultural Journalists^[21]
• 2015 - President's Award, American Agricultural Editors’ Association
• 2016 - Fellow, American Agricultural Editors’ Association^[22]