BC entrepreneur backs launch of Modern Farmer magazine

A BC investor is backing the launch of Modern Farmer magazine, a glossy, high-end U.S.-based publication, focussed on sustainable architecture, diet and lifestyle, according to a story in BCBusiness magazine.

Frank Giustra, best known for involvement in mining and for building Lion's Gate Entertainment, became involved with the project because he had in recent years begun to invest heavily in locally sourced food and buying  up high-yield farmland all over Canada. Giustra was introduced to the publishing opportunity by Gary Ross, the former editor-in-chief of Vancouver magazine. 

The person looking for backing for her vision was founder Ann Marie Gardner, who is Modern Farmer’s editor in chief and has based the magazine out of farm-ringed Hudson, New York, two hours north of Manhattan but still close enough to tap all the comforts of the planet’s media centre. Modern Famer’s rich, considered aesthetic and resemblance to high-end print media brands like Monocle, GOOD and Dwell are no coincidence. Gardner was a founding editor of Monocle (launched by Canadian-born Tyler Brule). 

“The audience for this magazine is me,” says Giustra. “I wanted to help create something that didn’t exist. I love to cook, I’d like to know where ingredients come from. People like me, in a certain manner, care about how animals are raised and are more suspect of processed foods every day.” He says the audience is growing and increasingly insatiable. And he’s right—the 100,000-copy run at $7.99 per issue of the inaugural edition is sold out in retailers like Whole Foods in Canada and the U.S. and the company is doing a second printing of No. 1 next month to meet demand.