Sara Schafer

Sara (Muri) Schafer, editor of Top Producer magazine, grew up on a family farm where they raised hogs and cattle, along with soybeans, corn, wheat, milo and hay. Since joining Farm Journal Media in 2008, she has covered a broad range of topics pivotal to the success of U.S. farmers. In addition to being an award-winning journalist, she has played several key roles with the transformative relaunch of AgWeb.com and spearheaded the Farm Journal Legacy Project expansion. Sara graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in agricultural journalism and a minor in agricultural economics. She resides in Columbia, Mo., with her husband and daughter.

Latest Stories
See how rising costs impact you and your family.
Trouble continues in the rural economy. Rural bankers point to the issues causing uncertainty ahead.
How can you reward team members for good work, increase employee retention and achieve your operation’s goals? Consider implementing an incentive pay system to reward your farm employees.
To commemorate his 60th trip around the sun, Duane Hansen set a new world record.
You’ve heard the horror stories. The ones about farm families who spend months in court fighting over assets. The result? A destroyed business and fractured family. Why does this situation play out over and over?
Ensure your farm business attracts and retains employees
In your will or trust documents, you name a power of appointment. This means you grant power to an individual to name recipients of all or a portion of your money and property in the future.
How do you set your farm on a profitable and exciting trajectory? Surround yourself with smart people, and then give and take.
“You can begin at any point in the year, but the power of this is that by improving yourself first, others follow,” says Mark Faust, president of Echelon Management.
The first step to winning the war for workers is to keep your star employees happy. Here’s how three farmers retain and attract employees.