Harris Turner and A.P. "Pat" Waldron founded the Saskatoon-based Modern Press publishing company in 1923. This followed the demise of Turner's previous venture, ''Turner's Weekly
, which originated in 1918. Modern Press released its first issue of The Progressive
on 24 August 1923. The following year the publication was renamed The Western Producer''. A major goal of the publication in its early years was to promote cooperative pooling among wheat farmers. The
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was founded in 1924 and purchased Modern Publishing in the early 1930s, supporting
The Western Producer through the
Great Depression. Until moving to its current location in the late 1990s, the newspaper operated out of the
Modern Press Building in downtown Saskatoon. In 2002, GVIC Communications purchased the publishing company from the
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. GVIC subsequently rebranded as
Glacier Media, which remains the current owner of Western Producer Publications through its agricultural media subsidiary
Glacier FarmMedia. In December 2006, a fire broke out at the Saskatoon building housing the newspaper and its printing operations. Staff were evacuated and no one was injured; publication continued without interruption. ==Coverage and content==