Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Farming

A prototype gene gun developed by Dennis McCabe and Brian Martinell in 1986 delivered new genetic material into the cells of plants.

Age of Humans

How Roundup Ready Soybeans Rocked the Food Economy

This 1980s-era “gene gun” fired the shot heard around the world

California's Bar SZ Ranch offers daily hayrides.

Plan a Back-40 Getaway at One of These Four Exceptional Farm Stays

Plan an overnight adventure on a working farm

Fraises Des Bois, the Best Strawberry You’ve Never Had

Supermarket strawberries are big, perfectly red, perfectly heart-shaped, and perfectly flavorless—at least compared with what they could be

Jayson Mesman and his truffle hunting dog Samson hard at work at The Truffle Farm.

These Adorable Rescue Dogs Lead Truffle Hunting Tours in Australia’s Majura Valley

An Australian farmer trains these abandoned canines to sleuth out a gourmet delicacy

A group of students on a tour of Brooklyn Grange.

Honeybees are the Stars at New York City’s Coolest Field Trip

People are buzzing about world’s largest rooftop soil farm

The Svalbard seed bank is one of many seed libraries in the world, and one of the best funded.

Age of Humans

From Lack Of Diversity To Lack Of Funding, Seed Banks Face a World Of Challenges

Gene banks are meant to protect biodiversity, yet they themselves are in need of protection

Life is about to become a bit more humane for male chicks.

Trending Today

Egg Producers Pledge More Humane Fate for Male Chicks

Better technology could make “maceration” go the way of the dodo

Cool Finds

This Museum Made Art Out of a John Deere Harvester

‘Continuous Service Altered Daily’ finds life inside a familiar machine

Fleet Farming turns yards into "farmlettes."

A Band of Biking Farmers in Florida Reinvents Sharecropping

Fleet Farming transforms lawns into farms to create a new local food system

At Sky Hill, guests learn how to throw pottery and make sweet-scented hay by gathering grass into small heaps that will dry in the sun. Marius and Cornelia bought the land in 2006 and have used it to teach travelers of all ages about organic farming and construction.

Europe

Try Your Hand at Organic Farming in Southwest Romania

By hosting travelers, local farmers hope to reverse the impact of big industry

Cascade, Centennial and Goldings hops are three varietals planted in Persephone’s demonstration hop yard.

Canada

From Farm to Bottle: Sip Brews Among the Hop Bines at This Vancouver-Area Beer Farm

Persephone Brewing Company brings beer and farming to the Sunshine Coast

Boat or floating farm forest? Swale is both.

Cool Finds

New York’s Newest Urban Farm Floats

A barge bursting with vegetables takes to the water this summer

When quinoa prices rise, do quinoa farmers starve?

New Research

Don’t Worry: Eating Quinoa Doesn’t Hurt Peruvian Farmers

A new study shows that the grain helps rather than hurts

A Cheese-Lover’s Guide to the Midwest

America’s heartland is a cheesy paradise

Cow trekking at Bolderhof.

Europe

Save a Horse, Ride a Cow Through the Swiss Alps

A farm in Switzerland offers a slow moo-tion ride through the alpine countryside

The steep walls of the Uncompahgre Gorge dwarf a climber after a long day on the cliffs.

How Do You Create the World’s Biggest Ice Climbing Park?

With nearly 200 different routes and 17,000 vertical feet of terrain, Ouray Ice Park is a haven for ice climbers and the “ice farmers” who bring it to life

Almonds are just one of the crops commonly treated with flubendiamide, a pesticide that has come under fire from the EPA.

Trending Today

The FDA Will Ban a Common Pesticide

Flubendiamide is used in about 200 crops like almonds and soybeans

Could meatballs like these one day be made in a lab?

New Research

This Biotech Company Is Growing Meatballs in a Lab

In just a few years, lab-grown meat might make it to the market

Inside Infinite Harvest's 5,400 square-foot grow facility in Lakewood, Colorado.

Astronauts and Arugula: Using Space-Station Technology to Grow Food

Infinite Harvest, an indoor vertical farm in Lakewood, Colorado, provides a glimpse into the future of global large-scale food production

Page 17 of 29