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A Fond Farewell
- neuroelectron 11mo agoIs paper media illegal yet?
- shervinafshar 11mo agoNot to be confused with Old Farmer's Almanac (est. 1792) and yet sad to see a 200 years old periodical closing up shop.
- owlninja 11mo agoThis is the one my mind went to, mostly because that cover is so familiar. Granted, I never invested much time in either but was always glad they existed.
- steviedotboston 11mo agothe old farmers almanac is the one people are probably more familiar with
- np_tedious 11mo agohttps://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-233-years-and-still-going-strong https://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-233-years-and-st... They appear experienced at navigating this confusion
- bcherry 11mo agowow thanks for leaving this comment - i now realize two things: 1. the farmer's almanac i thought of when i saw the title and even read the article is not going anywhere 2. i have never before heard of the farmer's almanac referred to in this notice
- rcleveng 11mo agoWow, I had never heard of that new one until today! Was worried for a bit.
- amelius 11mo agoDoes this mean they can now rename the Old Farmer's Almanac to the Farmer's Almanac?
- tylerchilds 11mo agoI’ll put a bowl of water in the moonlight tonight to bring blessings to the generations of authors farming our collective reality framing.
- owlninja 11mo agoI think this is from the Old Farmer's Almanac
- lisbbb 11mo agoThere's probably one for witches that's still all the rage on the east coast.
- School-Cotton 11mo agoThe full moon was yesterday unfortunately!
- yieldcrv 11mo agoInteresting, I appreciate how they gave no reasons, I’m also curious if there is more details beyond “we don’t want to anymore” Would be pretty cool if it was that simple, that reason needs more representation and is how I run my entrepreneurial endeavors
- ngold 11mo agoTis a bit curious R.I.P.
- kragen 11mo agoThe original editor hasn't wanted to anymore since he died in 01852, 173 years ago, so that's not it. Surely what is happening is that people don't buy reference books much anymore, and the core market of farmers gets smaller every year.
- Shorn 11mo ago> 01852, 173 years ago That's some serious forward thinking you've got going on with your date format there. I like it, I will be formatting all my years to 5 digits from now on. OTOH, if it was just a typo - keep it to yourself, I don't wanna know. I'm all in - 5 digit years is a thing now.
- cadamsdotcom 11mo agoYou might find your crowd among the Long Now Foundation, they love their 5-digit years.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- dingnuts 11mo agothis thing where someone performs an in group practice (the leading zero behavior) to garner interest, and then another in group member appears to try to recruit the curious person who takes the bait, that y'all are doing? it's creepy cult behavior, and the "Long Now" name and framing focused on the infinite isn't helping
- mtillman 11mo agoI skim both almanac products each year. Both have helpful little home tips and quite a bit of gardening advice. Sad to see them go.
- thorum 11mo agoThis press release has a bit more explanation: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/end-of-an-era-farmers-almanac-announces-final-publication https://www.farmersalmanac.com/end-of-an-era-farmers-almanac... > This decision, though difficult, reflects the growing financial challenges of producing and distributing the Almanac in today’s chaotic media environment.
- cowsandmilk 11mo agoHardly an explanation, what is meant by chaotic media environment?
- khannn 11mo agoIf I had to hazard a guess I'd say how everyone has the internet in their pocket, news and entertainment being one and the same, and the fact that nobody reads books anymore
- atomicnature 11mo agoBook sales in general (across all formats) are up I think - so there are still many, many readers around. We just have many new formats (EPUB, audiobooks, reader devices, etc.) and of course population is increasing over the globe. I'm pretty sure we have the highest number of readers on the planet right now than ever before in absolute terms.
- jbstack 11mo agoI'm not sure that's still correct. There was an uplift because of Covid and people having more spare time, but whatever more recent (2024 - 2025) sources I can find suggest the trend has reversed. It's worth also considering demographics. If you narrow the focus to just younger generations (who, we can guess, are more addicted to smartphones) then the numbers look pretty bad. E.g.: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/05/report-fall-in-children-reading-for-pleasure-national-literacy-trust https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/05/report-fall-in...
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- lisbbb 11mo agoI know it has a tradition behind it, but you can't just make shit up and just expect people in this technical age to be okay with it. I used to peruse my Grandmother's Reader's Digest as a kid and never really understood that one, either.
- DocTomoe 11mo agoAnd still some of IT's biggest trends right now are LLMs, which essentially make shit up on an industrial scale. What is going to be lost is more than an old book for old people: It's the folklore associated with it, the - and I mean that in the most positive meaning of the word - myths. The same kind of old magic that vanished when 'Weekly World News' stopped publication, or when MAD stopped being published monthly.
- Fomite 11mo agoWas going to say this - making shit up is currently driving most of the S&P 500's growth.
- avalys 11mo agoReaders Digest was just a general interest collection of articles, wasn’t it? I don’t remember it being particularly made-up. I mainly read it for the jokes, as I recall.
- Aloha 11mo agoI used to look forward to RD in the pre internet times, it was great medium form reading.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 11mo agoIt reprinted articles from other popular magazines, often in an abridged format (shortened, glossing over the boring details). I think by the 1980s though, quite a few of the articles were original.
- dangus 11mo ago
- pjbeam 11mo agoHuh, this always seemed like such an institution it never occurred to me that people have to produce Farmers' Almanac. Which of course they do. Didn't have this on my bingo card today, makes me a little sad.
- chatmasta 11mo agoThe brand has 200 years of value. They could easily sell it. It’s a respectable decision to shut it down instead.
- keane 11mo agoI bet County Highway would be interested in acquiring this. https://www.countyhighway.com/about https://www.countyhighway.com/about
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- block_dagger 11mo agoAI can replace them too. The Server Farmers’ Almanac will be in high demand.
- bitwize 11mo agoEspecially as data centers start displacing the amber waves of grain in America's hinterlands.
- amelius 11mo agoContent farmers, you mean.
- imdsm 11mo agoEngagement Farmers Almanac, A Guide to Brainrot
- philipwhiuk 11mo ago
- Waterluvian 11mo agoWhat exactly is the Farmer’s Almanac? I always thought it was basically a big set of historical data that helped provide a sort of statistical foundation for choices, even if the why isn’t explained. Which seems like I can completely understand it as a practical tool in the past but fairly obsolete in modern times. Or did it evolve, too, and was essentially modern science and maths, dressed in the trappings of a beloved cultural relic? Or is it more than ever a collection of stories and advice and other culture, and much less about the actual almanac?
- m463 11mo ago"The 2026 Old Farmer's Almanac" provides weather forecasts, astronomical data, and practical wisdom for those living close to the earth, continuing its tradition since 1792."
- 9rx 11mo agoThe parent is asking about the Farmer's Almanac (the one bidding farewell), first published in 1818.
- Waterluvian 11mo agoI actually don’t realize there were two! I’m guessing there’s a history here involving a fork.
- shervinafshar 11mo agoBut if you'd like to see a sample of _Old_ Farmer's Almanac, their 2026 issue could be accessed here: https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/TheOldFarmersAlmanac/issues/209314/viewer https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/TheOldFarmersAlmanac/issu... I always enjoy reading through those tabulated stuff; see pp. 280-281.
- 9rx 11mo ago> I’m guessing there’s a history here involving a fork. This is no direct relationship. Just a case of a competitor deciding to compete in the marketplace.
- msmd74 11mo ago[dead]
- ajdude 11mo agoI'm not a farmer, but I have relied on the farmers almanac before when planning vacations months in advance. It's been surprisingly accurate at determining whether a given week would have rain, snow, or sun. I have no idea how they did it but I would love to see their weather prediction system open sourced if they're going to be shutting down.
- carabiner 11mo agoBetter yet, use the NWS climate outlook, based on actual science: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/ https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/ They do detailed scoring of their predictions and it's based on rigorous physical modeling (navier stokes) so they know that it's better than chance. FA hasn't held up well to such scrutiny.
- FinnKuhn 11mo agoDoes something like this exist for weather prediction worldwide?
- bartread 11mo agoSadly it would never work for the British Isles, that much I can guarantee you. Our weather resists all forms of prediction found to be reliable elsewhere, and I doubt AI enhancements over the next few years will make much of a dent in the problem. I’ve tried all manner of weather services and none of them really do a really good job of any level of forecasting. They do however excel at supplying me with information I can get just by looking out the window.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- aubanel 11mo agoFor Europe, use ECMWF, they provide great data: https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts
- zkmon 11mo agoYou will see accelerated extinction of many members of the business species. The good members of the species can't adapt quickly with the pace of changes that are brought in by the excessive want (greed) and excessive power (knowledge) by other members of the species. Business is the only species where members of the race compete with other members of the own race, and not with other species. In natural species, internal competition happens only for mating rights and food, but not to kill each other. Capitalism is unnatural - it allows rapid consolidation of the businesses, leading to colonial style of empires. Colonial empires fell due to local people's assertion of their ownership of the land. Business workers have no such bond with the companies. They can't resurrect their businesses once gobbled up by the mega companies.
- ragebol 11mo ago> Best known for its long-range weather predictions I wonder if a changing climate makes the predictions in the almanac less useful too
- naIak 11mo agoWhen all you have is a hammer…
- squirtle24 11mo agoTo be honest I've never even heard of the "Farmers Almanac", but its #2 on HN now. Am I the only one here?
- NaomiLehman 11mo agoI think people like the name because of nostalgia they can't connect to and the word Almanac reminding them of Back to the Future
- gabagool 11mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_Almanac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_Almanac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Farmer%27s_Almanac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Farmer%27s_Almanac People do know things other people do not. They are fairly notable, though obviously not as much in today's society, hence this one's retirement
- tkgally 11mo agoIf anyone is interested in seeing older almanac(k)s, or at least texts with the word in their titles, the Internet Archive has scans of thousands. One chosen at random: The Illustrated Phrenological Almanac https://archive.org/details/illustratedphren1852fowl/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/illustratedphren1852fowl/mode/2u...
- markphip 11mo agoThere is still the Old Farmer’s Almanac https://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-233-years-and-still-going-strong https://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-233-years-and-st...
- styanax 11mo agoThank you, this is the one I recall from my youth (having them around the house). I did not realize there was another one with an almost identical name (this post).
- nubinetwork 11mo agoWhy was there two? Linked article doesn't really say why the confusion exists, other than that there are 2 almanacs.
- LogicWolfe 11mo agoLooks like it’s not a case of a fork and but rather of different publishers all trying to serve a common need with a well understood formula. There used to be many almanacs, then there were two, now there is one.
- ninalanyon 11mo agoOn the other side of the pond there are more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Moore%27s_Almanack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Moore%27s_Almanack in England published since 1697 and a similarly named one (without the k) in Ireland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Moore%27s_Almanac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Moore%27s_Almanac since 1764
- mastazi 11mo agoIn Italy, where I grew up, my grandparents used to read the Almanacco di Barbanera; the first edition came out in 1762. It is still around https://www.barbanera.it/ https://www.barbanera.it/
- anthk 11mo agoUh, Spain had this counterpart named "El Calendario Zaragozano" (The Zaragozan calendar) which looks like 120 years old or more... in the current edition and layout. It had ephemerides, farming related weather 'preditions', sowing dates, religious holydays, farming tips, big flea market day listings, old idioms, famous quotes and so on. http://calendariozaragozano.net/almanaque-zaragozano.html http://calendariozaragozano.net/almanaque-zaragozano.html
- Lu2025 11mo agoGood riddance. These guys had like 40% forecast accuracy, worse than random. When they say the winter will warmer it will be colder and vice versa.
- fingerlocks 11mo agoIf you’re treating a forecast as a single Bernoulli trial, wouldn’t that make them 60% accurate for the opposite of their prediction? Which is a silly assumption; a forecast isn’t a single yes-no event. it’s not obvious to me that 50% is the worst case success rate. Would be more interesting to compare their forecast to something like a long term NOAA forecast, but I don’t believe such a thing exists because calculating the future is very expensive.
- hbn 11mo agoGP did say it was just in reference to whether the winter will be warmer or colder than the last one, which is 50/50 In which case if they're 40% accurate, you can get 60% accuracy from them by assuming it'll be the opposite of what they say If they could get their accuracy down to 0% you'd have perfect predictions!
- zroxbhai444u 11mo agoUs
- zroxbhai444u 11mo ago[flagged]
- herodotus 11mo agoIn the early 1990's, during my days as a Comp. Sci. prof, I was so excited about the emergence of the internet. When I saw the Mosaic browser (a precursor to Netscape and later Firefox) I knew the world had changed for the better. Now I have such mixed feelings. Magazines (like the Farmers Almanac) either go online completely or just disappear. They just cannot compete for advertising dollars with Google. And small family run local retail stores, offering not just goods, but a social hub for people are shutting their doors because how can they compete with the convenience of Amazon. Much has been gained from the internet, and much has been lost.
- gaoshan 11mo agoThe aspect of small local stores functioning as a social hub really hits hard. The social hub, such as it is now, can be so much larger and less personal that it really does feel like a loss (a negative even). Is the social hub now something like Instagram or a specific forum/subreddit/space for a school or neighborhood? These are really insufficient replacements and people that grew up knowing nothing else likely do not realize just how insufficient they are.
- MichaelZuo 11mo agoBut if it’s so valuable… why aren’t people willing to pay for it? Forgoing luxuries like a vacation to support local stores full of people you know and trust, that might charge 20% more for the same product, seems like an obvious thing… That almost no Americans do in reality.
- wat10000 11mo agoBecause if I do that, I lose my vacation and I don’t gain a local store full of people I know and trust. Collective action problems aren’t solved by individually performing the action, and therefore the fact that people aren’t doing it doesn’t show they don’t want it.
- ryandrake 11mo ago
- Imnimo 11mo agoAccording to the "best days" link in the article, November 7th is the best day to cut your hair because the moon phase and zodiac will lead to slower hair growth if you cut it today. I am amazed this publication made it this far.
- mistrial9 11mo agoTo our loyal patrons, we promise to continue this tradition of trustworthiness and authenticity, of being “useful with a pleasant degree of humor,” while producing reliable, genuine content every year. https://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-artificial-intelligence-statement https://www.almanac.com/old-farmers-almanac-artificial-intel...
- wat10000 11mo agoI have fond memories of poring over it (or maybe it was the other one, they’re pretty similar) and taking it all in as a kid. Looking at it with an adult’s eyes, it’s absolute twaddle. But people go for that sort of thing. How much money gets made on astrology?
- kelnos 11mo agoUnfortunately, I think you underestimate how rampant superstition is in the US.
- warmwaffles 11mo agoIt's world wide, not just the US.
- roflyear 11mo agoI started cutting my hair on the 7th of each month and things have been going really well for me. I won't stop now!
- KPGv2 11mo agoNota bene, this isn't the Farmer's Almanac everyone's thinking of. You're probably thinking of the Old Farmer's Almanac, which has been in publication since the 1700s and is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America. I live in Texas and have never seen this Farmer's Almanac in my life. But the Old Farmer's Almanac has been on the store shelves my whole life, and they're still publishing. Neither is accurate tho. Both are around 50%.
- speak_plainly 11mo agoThey should open source their methodologies, maybe someone else can carry on their work.
- wiskinator 11mo agoDang. This is one of those annoying cases of finding out something that I would clearly love exists only as it leaves. I would have subscribed if I knew that the Farmer's Almanac still existed :(
- olivia-banks 11mo agoIt's incredible they've lasted this long.
- xp84 11mo agoOddly the 2026 cover[1] seems to say that 2026 is a leap year. This seems like the kind of thing that would be their bread and butter to get right. [1] https://www.amazon.com/2026-Farmers-Amanac-Almanac/dp/1928720439 https://www.amazon.com/2026-Farmers-Amanac-Almanac/dp/192872...