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Showing posts from May, 2018

Maine Potato Harvest 1940

Children gathering potatoes on a large farm. Vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Library of Congress. Every Thursday a carefully selected old agricultural photo is featured here on Big Picture Agriculture � lest we forget how things used to be.

Don't Forget About the Artificial Leaf, or, Artificial Photosynthesis

I covered this subject a number of years ago after interviewing (now retired) Bill Reinert of Toyota. "What if" we could have artificial photosynthesis? Daniel G. Nocera, doing research on this at Harvard, has given a TED talk on this in the past. He appears in the video below. I expect some type of energy breakthrough to come at some point in the future, though I have no idea what it will

Photos of Wasabi Farming in Japan

Note that for today's photos, there are two posts, this one, and one on sweet cherries in the U.S. Japan Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'zNT7zXAbRyNjtJF9XKFnEA',sig:'400BaKKywVmYZJdRQECQru6eunmyeh9qwpJ5SEolW8g=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'962008148',caption: false ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});Wasabi

Sweet Cherry Harvest in California Photos

Note that for today's photos, there are two posts, this one, and one on wasabi farming in Japan. U.S.A. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'DQnGUgNWT61SQmGZ8WK4aA',sig:'eHQZd3GkIwMjOJLDhiZTKp0LZRC4ABqyjvVjwH_BHnc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'961160422',caption: false ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});Workers

Well Water West Virginia 1946

Drawing water from well at farm house where annual reunion of England family was held. Hensley Hollow, McDowell County, West Virginia. August 11, 1946. Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War. Every Thursday a carefully selected old agricultural photo is featured here on Big Picture Agriculture � lest we forget how things used to be.

Michael Pollan's New Book is Out

I've been awaiting the release of Michael Pollan's next book (which, if you didn't know) is about psychedelics. Below, find some links to learn more about How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. I especially recommend the lengthy podcast, by Tim Ferriss, below. First of all, I haven't read

Farmers are Hacking and Innovating

Farmers are an independent breed. They always have been and always will be. So if industry tries to dictate what they can and can't do while charging for that lack of privilege, that same industry might as well expect some innovative thinking to escape control or being captured by technology and imposed costs. The two videos, below, help tell an interesting and emerging story about just that, and

Global Food and Agriculture Photos May 20, 2018

This roundup of global food, farming, and agricultural photos appears every Sunday on Big Picture Agriculture. U.S.A. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'NYHIknkLRsJBrX3W_gPUZw',sig:'YBQfsF_PlO_0dtewo8tQBhHmRt_2kxlIM2ORKVwbVNQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'959534592',caption: false ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })

Beautiful North Dakota Prairie Photo May 2018

(click to enlarge) A big thanks to my North Dakota photographer friend, Rick Bohn, for sending this extraordinarily beautiful photograph of the natural prairie in his pothole geographic region. This was taken on May 2nd, 2018, and thankfully this bit of habitat has survived the recent plowing-under for soybean acres which has been ravaging the Dakotas this past decade. Let's hope it stays that

Oklahoma Farm Kitchen 1946

Kitchen in home of Luther Nixon, miner, who makes his home on his farm. Le Flore County, Oklahoma. Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War. July 24, 1946. Every Thursday a carefully selected old agricultural photo is featured here on Big Picture Agriculture � lest we forget how things used to be.

Mushrooms, the Preferred Meat Extender

Sorry Silicon Valley. We already have the perfect meat extender. It's called the mushroom. Mix diced mushrooms into your next burger and you will reduce your meat footprint by 33%. Mushrooms are rich in glutamate, giving them umami, one of the five important tastes that we appreciate. Famous restauranteur, Kimball Musk, serves a mushroom-beef burger, here in Boulder at one of his restaurants.

Global Food and Agriculture Photos May 13, 2018

This roundup of global food, farming, and agricultural photos appears every Sunday on Big Picture Agriculture. WELCOME to a Mother's Day edition of photos this week. (It's a little heavy on flowers.) U.S.A. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'XGACrozsQk5bpJ7StbOakQ',sig:'

Finland Farm 1950

Farm in southern Finland in the 1950s. Every Thursday a carefully selected old agricultural photo is featured here on Big Picture Agriculture � lest we forget how things used to be.

In Love With Trees: David Haskell

This short talk by David Haskell gives you an overview of his sensitivity to spending time in the Forest amongst the trees and in Nature. It should be an inspiration to each of us. Haskell's second book, The Songs of Trees, was published in April 2017 by Viking. It won the 2018 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing, and, Public Radio International's Science Friday

Agriculture Reading Picks

Readers, because I've run across some extra-good articles of late, I thought I'd throw up some links today.--k.m. Rural Kansas is dying. I drove 1,800 miles to find out why | The New Food Economy Minnesota experiment upends notions about how plants will offset rising CO2 | MinnPost The innovation turning desert sand into farmland | BBC BRICS nations a growing force in grain | World-Grain

Global Food and Agriculture Photos May 6, 2018

This roundup of global food, farming, and agricultural photos appears every Sunday on Big Picture Agriculture. NEW ZEALAND Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'PXbXXtIaTFld-VkA5dpP0Q',sig:'ofKPNYoVgj9_XSpVgKJpXvoHaN9zhKPwMrrPdwXsoOU=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'954794906',caption: false ,tld:'co.uk',is360:

Two 1950 Tractors

Ford Tractor 1950. Farmall Tractor c.1950. Every Thursday a carefully selected old agricultural photo is featured here on Big Picture Agriculture � lest we forget how things used to be.