Ongoing Coverage:

CoMo Explained

Tagged: agriculture

Pages

Agriculture

8:51 am

Wed May 8, 2013

It's tough going right now for Missouri, Illinois corn growers

Credit (via Flickr/Dodo-Bird)

By Maria Altman

Originally published on Wed May 8, 2013 7:54 am

Farmers in Missouri, Illinois and much of the Midwest are having a tough time getting their corn planted.

The US Department of Agriculture says in Illinois just 7 percent of the corn crop is in the ground; while in Missouri it’s 22 percent.

Usually, nearly half of the nation’s corn has been planted by this time.

Agriculture

9:00 am

Mon March 4, 2013

Exploring our global food system at the Natural History Museum

Next image Previous image

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

“Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture,” on view now at the American Museum of Natural History, explores how our food is produced, distributed and eaten.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

We learn that chili peppers got their spiciness ratings from the Scoville Heat Unit scale, which was created in 1912.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

In Japan, farmers have transformed the spherical look of a watermelon by growing them in square glass boxes.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

The show takes visitors back to a 16th century Aztec market and the staples of that cuisine -- like chocolate and tomatoes -- now so ingrained in our diets.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

A towering sculpture of trash is meant to represent the staggering amount of food an American consumer throws out each year: 414 pounds.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

Part of the exhibit includes an interactive cookbook in which recipes for West African groundnut, or peanut, soup are offered up.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

Smelling stations waft sweet scents of popcorn and lavender to your nose with a touch of a button.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

Mongolian ruler Kublai Khan ate flower dumplings, steamed mutton, fish and green onions back in the day.

Credit Mansoor Khan for Harvest Public Media

Ices made from damsom plums, currants, caramel, cream and sugar were eaten by the writer Jane Austen at home in Kent.

By Abbie Fentress Swanson

Can a watermelon be grown in the shape of a square? What do Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps eat for breakfast? Which island nation produces the most lamb in the world? Consumers interested in pulling back the curtain on our food system will get these and many other questions answered at “Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture.” The exhibition, on view now at the American Museum of Natural History, explores how our food is produced, distributed and eaten.

True/False: Conversations

12:00 pm

Wed February 20, 2013

'The Moo Man' casts light on challenges facing small dairies

Credit Courtesy of Trufflepig Films

A still from 'The Moo Man,' showing Steve Hook and some of the Holstein-Friesian cows in his herd.

By Abbie Fentress Swanson

This story is part of True/False Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with the filmmakers of this year’s True/False Festival. Find the rest of them here or download the podcast on iTunes.

Agriculture

1:05 pm

Fri February 1, 2013

Field Notes: How Wal-Mart's local foods push is playing out in the Midwest

Credit Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media

A customer shops for produce at a Wal-Mart in Columbia, Mo. The retailer claims 11 percent of its produce sold in its stores nationally comes from local farms.

By Abbie Fentress Swanson

This is the latest installment of Harvest Public Media’s Field Notes, in which reporters talk to newsmakers and experts about important issues related to food production.

Pages