A lesser-known Farmers' Almanac will fold after 2 centuries, citing money trouble

The Farmers’ Almanac was first printed in 1818 and the Old Farmer's Almanac started in 1792, and it's believed to be the oldest continually published periodical in North America. Both almanacs used secret formulas based on sunspots, planetary positions and lunar cycles to generate long-range weather forecasts.

“It is with a heavy heart,” Editor Sandi Duncan said in a statement, “that we share the end of what has not only been an annual tradition in millions of homes and hearths for hundreds of years, but also a way of life, an inspiration for many who realize the wisdom of generations past is the key to the generations of the future.”

Editors at the other publication noted there's been some confusion between the two. “The OLD Farmer's Almanac isn't going anywhere,” they posted online.

The two publications come from an era where hundreds of almanacs served a nation of farmers over time. Most were regional publications and no longer exist. The Farmers’ Almanac was founded in New Jersey and moved its headquarters to Lewiston, Maine, in 1955.

They contain gardening tips, trivia, jokes, and natural remedies, such as catnip as a pain reliever and elderberry syrup as an immune booster. But its weather forecasts make the most headlines.

Scientists sometimes disputed the accuracy of the predictions and the reliability of the secret formula. Studies of the almanacs' accuracy have found them to be a little more than 50% accurate, or slightly better than random chance.

The almanac was a “quaint relic” with a special kind of charm, but its use as a forecasting tool was debatable, said Val Kiddings, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and a longtime researcher of science and agriculture.

“It might have had some value looking back, as a historical indicator,” Giddings said, “but I never took any of its prognostications at all seriously.”

Readers, saddened to hear the news, posted online about how they used it in their families for generations as a guide to help them plant gardens and follow the weather.

Julie Broomhall in San Diego, California, told The Associated Press in a social media post that she’s used the Farmers’ Almanac for years to decide when to take trips and plant flowers.

She said she planned a three-month, cross-country trip last year by reading the almanac. On one leg of it, she left Oklahoma the day before a prediction for a major snowstorm in the area. It snowed.

“I missed several I-40 mishaps because of the predictions,” she wrote.

In 2017, when the Farmers' Almanac reported a circulation of 2.1 million in North America, its editor said it was gaining new readers among people interested in where their food came from and who were growing fresh produce in home gardens. It developed followers online and sent a weekly email to readers in addition to its printed editions.

Many of these readers lived in cities, prompting the publication to feature skyscrapers as well as an old farmhouse on its cover.

Among Farmers’ Almanac articles from the past is one from 1923 urging folks to remember “old-fashioned neighborhoodliness” in the face of newfangled technology like cars, daily mail and telephones. Editors urged readers in 1834 to abandon tobacco and, in 1850, promoted the common bean leaf to combat bedbugs.

The almanac had some forward-thinking advice for women in 1876, telling them to learn skills to avoid being dependent on finding a husband. “It is better to be a woman than a wife, and do not degrade your sex by making your whole existence turn on the pivot of matrimony,” it counseled.

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.