29-04-2025
Longtime Agweek reporter Jonathan Knutson has died
Apr. 28—GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Longtime Agweek reporter
Jonathan Knutson
died Friday, April 25, 2025, under the care of hospice. He was 65.
Knutson was a respected and renowned agriculture journalist and a past president of the North American Agricultural Journalists.
"Jon was one of the best. A great reporter and writer, sure, but he also was a great mentor — both down and up. If we had a new reporter or a new editor on the team, he went out of his way to share his knowledge, which was unmatched. He made everyone around him better," said Kirsten Stromsodt, executive editor for Forum Communications who formerly served as director of content for Agweek.
"Jon was a stellar reporter and an even better person," said Jenny Schlecht, director of content for Agweek. "He was an important part of the fabric of Agweek, providing steady, thorough reporting and insightful commentary, straight from someone who knew the world of agriculture personally. We're all better for having worked with him and learned from his experiences."
Knutson always described himself as a "farm kid." He grew up on his family farm near McVille, North Dakota. He graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with a bachelor's degree, then received a master's degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona.
Knutson spent five years at the Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune. He first came to Agweek in 1989. He spent two years there before moving on to The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead in February 1991, where he covered agriculture and business. Knutson returned to Agweek on April Fools' Day in 2010.
Knutson was a big piece of the beginning of
AgweekTV
, which launched in January 2015. While a print reporter at heart, Knutson became adept at appearing on television, giving his reporting a new audience. He became a fixture on the program for years and helped bring accurate agriculture information into the living rooms of the region.
After his retirement in August 2021, Knutson still regularly wrote his popular "Plain Living" column for Agweek and Forum Communications.
Throughout his career, Knutson wrote many stories important to agriculture, agriculture policy and ag business, along with many insightful profiles on the agriculture community of the region. When he retired, he chose "five fairly representative stories of which I'm proud" and provided comments on them:
1.
A long, wet ag disaster
: "Many Agweek readers remember the long rise of Devils Lake adjacent to the North Dakota city bearing the same name. This story, which took first place in the annual North American Agricultural Journalists writing contest, examined how farmers were affected."
2.
The man from Moccasin, Mont.
: "I've had the great, good fortune to write many personality stories, or feature stories on individuals. This one involved a trip to Great Falls, Mont. — a long drive that proves Agweek's commitment to serving the region — to profile a wheat farmer and national commodity leader whom I dubbed 'the Man from Moccasin, Mont.' "
3.
Cultured meat: Good or bad, promise or peril?
"I'd like to think I've always written fair, balanced stories. Even though I grew up on a ranch and once owned cattle, this award-winning story, which looked at the pros and cons, friends and foes of cultured meat (aka cell-based meat) fairly reflected the cell-based industry's point of view, or so an industry official told me after the story ran."
4.
Flood control creates tough times for farmers, ranchers
: "This is the longest story I ever wrote. It looked at disastrous flooding around Towner, North Dakota. I received a second-place in the annual NAAJ writing contest; the first-place winner that year visited China for his story, the third-place winner went to New Zealand. Ah, well, Towner was fine by me; nice town, nice people."
5.
'Arrogant journalists' not found in Upper Midwest ag
: "My "Plain Living" columns typically focus on the joys and challenges of modern agriculture. This one looks at the joys and challenges of being an ag journalist.
A private graveside service for Knutson is planned for later this year. In lieu of memorials, his family believes the best way to honor his memory is to schedule a cancer screening, especially for colon cancer. To read his full obituary, visit
