Tiny automated machines could soon take care of the entire growing process. Fewer chemicals, more efficient – where’s the downside?
Agricultural choices must be made by these inescapable standards: the ecological health of the farm and the economic health of the farmer.
Photographer David Bacon shares stunning images of farmworkers harvesting cabbage the old-fashioned way, and writes that the ubiquitous if undervalued vegetable is actually a shared cultural touchstone.
Hunter-gatherers didn’t learn farming themselves, or from their immediate neighbors, but rather from distant people moving into their territory—a pattern that may have played out throughout this part of the globe.
A new book, The Food Explorer, tells the story of botanist David Fairchild who, in the 1890’s, sleuthed out over 200,000 kinds of fruits, vegetables and grains around the world. Thanks to his findings, the USDA distributed many new seeds and crops to farmers throughout the states.
An agricultural economist writes that treating Twinkies and carrots as the beginning and end of the farm subsidies discussion distracts from useful public discourse.
The nonprofit National 4-H Council accepts donations from a veritable who’s who of Big Ag: Monsanto, ConAgra, DuPont, and Altria each gave at least a million dollars in 2015. A lot of cultural norms around gender and sexuality are directly illustrated by the history of 4-H.
Far from a bucolic idyll, farming in America is one of its most dangerous professions. And almost no one is trying to change that.
With rural issues in the spotlight following the election, Iowa's poet laureate, Mary Swander, speaks about her work with farmers, the concerns of her neighbors in this political moment, and the role of art in challenging times.
The food activist group, Eco Practicum, came together for five days in New York City for the third annual program produced in partnership with Our Name Is Farm, a training aimed at building “effective advocacy for a better food system.”
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