FIRST PLACE — Brian Bienkowski, The New Lede

FOIA records reveal EPA leaders frequent meetings with industry lobbyists — (09/18/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Estefanía Pinto Ruiz, Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk / KWQC-TV 6

Pesticide manufacturers ask lawmakers for immunity from lawsuits by sick farmers — (5/21/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Gil Gullickson, Wallace’s Farmer / Farm Progress

Nab more cash through Section 45Z  — (August 2025)

THIRD PLACE — Joshua Baethge, Farm Progress

One more look at the ‘big, beautiful bill’— (7/25/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Lisa Foust Prater, Successful Farming

Bring Buffalo Back to Standing Rock (2/01/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Susan Payne, DTN/Progressive Farmer

New Love for the Farm: After tragedy, this fifth-generation farmer finds his way home (1/01/2025)

Joel Reichenberger, DTN/Progressive Farmer

Lighted Tractor Parade Now a Tradition (12/19/2025)

Kevin Draper, The New York Times

Move Over, Curds. Whey is the New Big Cheese (00/00/2025)

Emma Glassman-Hughes, Offrange

The Snails at the End of the World (9/12/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Joel Reichenberger, DTN/ Successful Farmer

The Great Shift: The COVID pandemic five years ago left a new world for many farmers in its wake (2/1/2025)

THIRD PLACE — Joshua Baethge, Farm Progress

Farmworker’s dilemma: The hidden cost of pursuing the American dream  (8/19/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Elaine Shein and Mary Kennedy, DTN/Progressive Farmer

ND, MN Hit by Tornadoes High Wind: ND Governor Declares Disaster After Tornadoes 100 mph Winds Hit State and Kills 3 — (6/22/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Jason Jenkins, DTN/Progressive Farmer

EPA Comment Period Opens on OTT Dicamba: Proposed OTT Dicamba Registrations Eliminate Application Cutoff Dates  — (7/23/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Marcia Brown, Politico

Trump officials delayed farm trade report over deficit forecast — (6/04/2025)

THIRD PLACE — Timothy Hearden, Western Farm Press / Farm Progress

ICE raids on farms, packing houses rankle California ag  — (6/12/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Gil Gullickson, Wallace’s Farmer
Buehlers aim to do it right with cattle operation   — (March 2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Joshua Baethge, Farm Progress

Reluctant farm warrior still fights for justice  — (February 27, 2025)

SECOND PLACE — Pamela Smith, Progressive Farmer

From Tragedy to Legacy: Farmer’s daughter urges others to plan for the unexpected   — (December 2025)

THIRD PLACE — Dan Miller, Progressive Farmer
Failure Isn’t Fatal — (January 2025)

FIRST PLACE — Dan Miller, DTN/Progressive Farmer

The Autonomy Riddle: Farm labor won’t be programmed away by the promises of intelligent technologies. (6/1/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Oliver Ward, Agri-Pulse

EU deforestation rules shaping U.S. timber contracts, hitting ag land conversions  (10/08/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Noah Wicks, Agri-Pulse

Progress made in US-Mexico water dispute amid farmers’ irrigation struggles (12/15/2025)

THIRD PLACE — Gil Gullickson, Wallaces Farmer/Farm Progress

Is a phantom stealing corn yields? (9/1/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Michael Grunwald, The New York Times

• Spraying Roundup on Crops Is Fine. Really. — (9/28/2025)

• They’re Small, Yellow and Round — and Show How Trump’s Tariffs Don’t Work (10/21/2025)

• Elon Musk Should Take a Hard Look at One Agency Truly Wasting Taxpayer Dollars (3/7/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Jennifer Carrico, DTN/Progressive Farmer

• Cattlemen Continue to Question How Long Will High Cattle Prices Last (5/26/2025)

• Promote Farm Safety to Prevent the Risk of Accidents (9/25/2025)

• 7 Lessons Youth Learn at County Fairs While Completing Projects (7/17/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Lisa Foust Prater, Successful Farmer

• Legacy in a Bottle: After nearly six decades of arming, Tom Bindner’s final corn crop can be enjoyed by generations to come (September 2025)

• A Fresh Start: Up-and-coming farmers find peace, purpose, and a path to independence in Iowa (December 2025)

• 4 Summer Reads: Enjoy fiction, facts, a memoir, and a celebration of farm life (July 2025)

THIRD PLACE — Pamela Smith, DTN/Progressive Farmer

• Corn Husker Comeback: Healing Lotion Takes a Crack at Winter  — (1/13/2025)

• Start Spotting Tar Spot in Cornfields — (7/1/2025)

• Corn Black Layer Sends a Signal About Building Dry Matter — 9/10/2025

FIRST PLACE — Chris Clayton, DTN/Progressive Farmer
A Broken Government Uses SNAP Recipients as Shutdown Leverage — (10/23/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Urban Lehner, DTN/Progressive Farmer

15 Reasons These Tariffs Are a Mistake  — (4/8/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Tim Hearden, Western Farm Press/Farm Progress

It’s time for Congress to step in on immigration — (7/16/2025)

THIRD PLACE — Tim Hearden, Western Farm Press/Farm Progress

Here’s your California ‘two-state solution’: Stop wasting time  — (9/3/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Joel Reichenberger, DTN/Progressive Farmer
The Great Shift: The COVID pandemic five years ago left a new world for many farmers in its wake  — (February 2025)

SECOND PLACE — Jason Jenkins, DTN/Progressive Farmer

Flour Fundamentals: From the field to the final product, wheat quality counts  — (March 2025)

THIRD PLACE — Jason Jenkins, DTN/Progressive Farmer

Plots With Purpose: FIRST trials offer unbiased evaluation of commercial seed  — (September 2025)

FIRST PLACE — Chris Clayton, DTN/Progressive Farmer
Tariff Impact on Agricultural: Continuing Coverage

• Trump Orders Tariffs on Trade Partners  — (2/2/2025)

• Tariff Standoff Ends With Ag Unscathed — (2/3/2025)

• Ag Groups Fear Trade Losses — (4/2/2025)

• Trump Details Sweeping Tariff Plans — (4/2/2025)

• China Responds to Tariffs: Markets Drop — (4/4/2025)

• Keeping Score on Trump’s Tariffs — (8/4/2025)

• Soy, Sorghum Leaders Plea for Talks — (9/25/2025)

• Farmers Lose Ground to Brazil in China — (10/1/2025)

• Farmers Cautiously Optimistic on China — (10/30/2025)

• Supreme Court to Weigh Tariff Power — (11/4/2025)

HONORABLE MENTION — Gil Gullickson, Wallace’s Farmer

Outlook 2026: How to navigate the year ahead: Series

• Secrets to survive (and maybe thrive?) in 2026 — (10/22/2025)

• 8 ways to navigate tight margins in 2026 — (10/22/2025)

• Will southern rust strike in 2026? – (10/23/2025)

• Is now the time to buy land? — (10/23/2025)

• Know these seed secrets to cut costs — (10/23/2025)

• Should you cash in or keep heifer calves? — (10/24/2025)

• How to wipe out 98% of waterhemp — (10/24/2025)

• Budget-friendly fertilizer tips for 2026 — (10/24/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Todd Neeley, DTN/Progressive Farmer

The Hansen-Mueller Co. bankruptcy: Continuing coverage

• Grain Dealer Fails to Pay Nebraska Farmers — (10/27/2025)

• Hansen-Mueller Leaves Farms in Limbo — (10/30/2025)

• Hansen-Mueller Pays Nebraska Farmers — (11/4/2025)

• Neb. Grain Company Files Chapter 11 — (11/17/2025)

• Failed Ventures Fuel Grain Company Failure — (11/18/2025)

• Hansen-Mueller Unsecured Creditors Want More Time — (12/1/2025)

• Hansen-Mueller Asset Sale in December — (12/3/2025)

• Farmer: Hansen-Mueller Misled Nebraska — (12/11/2025)

• 3 Companies Win Hansen-Mueller Auction — (12/19/2025)

THIRD PLACE — Ilena Peng, Bloomberg

America’s Shrinking Cattle Herd: Continuing Coverage

• Surge in US Dairy Herd Signals Some Relief for Beef Shortage — (11/17/2025)

• Trump’s Beef Price Battle Meets America’s Insatiable Demand — (11/25/2025)

• More US Beef Plants May Close as Cattle Herds Keep Shrinking — (12/19/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Anthony Greder, Mark Moore, Katie Dehlinger, Chris Clayton, Michael Watkins, Susan Payne, Jennifer Carrico, DTN/Progressive Farmer

Labor Pains: Inside Ag’s Workforce Crisis and How Employers are Adapting  — (Summer 2025)

SECOND PLACE — Elaine Shein, Katie Dehlinger, Chris Clayton, Susan Payne, Rhett Montgomery, DTN/Progressive Farmer

Finding Financing for Farming  — (October 2025)

THIRD PLACE — Noah Wicks, Parker Litterick —Agri-Pulse

State SNAP food restrictions spread amid MAHA push  — (10/22/2025)

WINNER — Melissa Dai, Investigate Midwest

Broadband’s broken promise: How federal failures and funding fights keep Native and Black farmers offline — (10/22/2025)

FIRST PLACE — Juan Vassallo, Investigate Midwest

• Why Oklahoma farmers are leery of the energy storage facility next door  (3/18/2025)

• Oklahoma’s loophole: How Tyson’s water use goes unchecked (6/11/2025)

• Immigrants helped save this Illinois meatpacking town. Trump cut hundreds from its workforce. (9/3/2025)
  

HONORABLE MENTION — Rebekah Alvey, Civil Eats 

• As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the Future? (9/16/2025)

• For Farmers, the Government Shutdown Adds More Challenges (10/22/2025)

• Farmers Face Prospect of Skyrocketing Healthcare Premiums (11/19/2025)

SECOND PLACE — Emma Glassman-Hughes, Offrange (Formerly Ambrook Research) 

• Caviar’s Shifting Tides (3/15/2025)

• Grasshoppers Wreaking Havoc (6/27/2025)

• The Snails at the End of the World (9/12/2025)

THIRD PLACE — Susan Payne, DTN/Progressive Farmer

• New Love for the Farm (January 2025)

• Mentorships Cultivate New Farmers (June 2025)

• Financing For Young Farmers (October 2025)