Whitney was raised on a farm in central Indiana. She graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in agricultural communications in 2004.

She joined the Indiana AgriNews team in 2005, covering the Hoosier livestock industry, fruit and vegetable crops and the environment.

She also reports on rural development, farmland preservation and other land use issues.

Whitney received Indiana Farm Bureau's Outstanding Senior in Ag Communications award in 2004 and was a four-year member of the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District Youth Board, as well as a 10-year 4-H member, including a stint as club president, and was active in FFA as district treasurer, chapter president and American degree recipient.

Kevin, who grew up on a LaSalle County farm in Illinois, coordinates editing for Illinois AgriNews and Indiana AgriNews.

He also is responsible for layout and design of newspaper pages, in particular: Agri-Business, Agri-Trucker, Antiques, Farm Insurance, Homemaker, Lifestyles, Markets, Market Data, MoneyNews and Opinions.

Kevin was the first editor of Illinois AgriNews when the newspaper was started in 1977.

Jim first began working with Indiana AgriNews as a field editor in 1993. He became state editor in 1996 and managing editor in 1999.

In 2003, he was named executive editor of AgriNews Publications, overseeing the editorial content of Illinois AgriNews, Indiana AgriNews and CountryNews.

He was raised on a farm in northwestern Illinois and graduated from the University of Illinois' College of Communications.

He received the United Soybean Board's award for outstanding farm reporting in 1999. In addition to designing pages, Jim primarily is responsible for writing articles on federal farm politics and agribusiness.

The most recent addition to the AgriNews team, Katie graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis last May.

She originally is from Madison in southeastern Indiana. She previously was an intern at the NUVO weekly newspaper and a reporter at the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, as well as a writer, copy editor and assistant news editor of the student-run Butler Collegian.

Katie now is covering Indiana's row crops and grain commodity organizations, the Indiana State Fair, the Purdue University School of Agriculture and the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, as well as rural health and safety.

Jeannine joined the Illinois AgriNews team in 2005, but has been reporting on agricultural issues for several years.

Previously, she was a reporter for the daily Dixon Telegraph. Raised in Amboy, she now works in AgriNews' LaSalle office.

In particular, Jeannine is interested in urban and suburban sprawl and land development issues, as well as alternative crops and fuel costs.

She is a graduate of Rosary College in River Forest, Ill., where she earned a bachelor's degree in English.

Nat, located in southern Illinois, writes stories on wheat, fruits and vegetables, soybeans and minor crops such as aquaculture, grain sorghum and forestry.

He covers Southern Illinois University, as well as meetings of St. Louis-based farm groups such as the National Corn Growers Association and the United Soybean Board.

Nat earned a degree in journalism from SIU and joined Illinois AgriNews in 1989.