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Farming

Entrepreneurs are remaking these 16th to 18th century farmhouses into intimate retreats and luxury hotels.

The Centuries-Old Abandoned Farmhouses of Puglia Are Having a Renaissance Moment

Supporting sustainability and local economies, these out-of-the-way structures known as masserie are offering a new type of rustic luxury

Ancestral Menominee farmers grew corn, beans and squash in earthen mounds they built on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

New Research

Massive Fields Where Native American Farmers Grew Corn, Beans and Squash 1,000 Years Ago Discovered in Michigan

The ancestors of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin built earthen mounds to grow crops. The site could be the largest preserved archaeological field system in the eastern United States

Vanilla producer Bertrand Côme displays bound and dried vanilla beans for sale at his Réunion farm. The beans generally grow as long as 6 to 11 inches.

The Bittersweet Beginnings of Vanilla Cultivation Can Be Traced Back to the Far-Flung Isle of Réunion

A journey to the remote Indian Ocean island reveals the story behind the fragrant, delicious, ubiquitous spice—and the enslaved youth who made it a commercial success

Philadelphia children eating a "three-cent dinner" at school, featured in the 1913 book School Feeding: Its History and Practice at Home and Abroad

American Schools Have Been Feeding Children for More Than 100 Years. Here’s How the School Lunch Has Changed

A new exhibition in Philadelphia explores how nutritional science, technological advances and political debates shaped the foods on schoolchildren’s trays

Scientists are working to unravel the best ways to save many types of seeds.

To Safeguard Threatened Plants, Scientists Must Master the Tricky Art of Seed Banking

Researchers are working to unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken

In England’s Lake District, a wooden footbridge connects two rocky sides of a riverbank as mountains peek out from the fog in the distance.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

See 15 Serene Scenes of the English Countryside

Quaint centuries-old villages dot the rural landscapes of the United Kingdom

European gray wolves in Germany

Why Have European Wolves Recovered So Much in the Past Decade?

The predators have increased by almost 60 percent on the continent

Tomatoes from arranged shopping trolleys seen outside a store in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on March 29, 2025

How the Misrepresentation of Tomatoes as Stinking ‘Poison Apples’ That Provoked Vomiting Made People Afraid of Them for More Than 200 Years

The long and fraught history of the plant shows that it got an unfair reputation from the beginning

Posters, newspaper advertisements and radio shows promoted carrots' health benefits.

Carrots Can’t Help You See in the Dark. Here’s How a World War II Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth

The British government claimed that eating carrots helped its fighter pilots shoot down German planes at night. In truth, the Royal Air Force relied on top-secret radar

Early avocado farmers left a lasting mark on the development of agriculture.

New Research

New Study Reveals How Humans Cultivated Avocados Over Thousands of Years

Research in Honduras shows that humans began selecting for larger fruits with thicker rinds as early as 7,500 years ago—long before maize arrived in the region

Crops around the world—including corn, wheat and rice—might suffer from decreased yields as a result of microplastics interfering with photosynthesis, according to a new study.

Microplastics Are Making Photosynthesis Harder for Plants—and That Could Slash Crop Yields, Study Suggests

On average, these little particles could reduce photosynthesis in plants and algae by up to 12 percent, according to the paper

An aerial image of the excavation site in Cumbria

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Unearthed Britain’s Largest Known Viking-Age Building Beneath a Family Farm

A team of experts and enthusiasts discovered the structure at High Tarns Farm in northwest England. Researchers think it dates to between the late 10th and early 11th centuries

Current experiments are focused on tomatoes, lettuce and other small-scale crops, with hopes to extend to high-calorie crops like grains and sweet potatoes in the future. 

Can Electro-Agriculture Revolutionize the Way We Grow Food?

A new technology is pushing the boundaries of farming by using electricity to grow crops without photosynthesis

Replicas of sheep and paintings are part of the exhibition's "exploded" diorama layout.

From Shears to Sweaters, an Experimental New Exhibition Examines the Long, Wooly Relationship Between Humans and Sheep

The Amsterdam show features an eclectic mix of wool garments, life-size sheep replicas and philosophical musings about the interconnectedness of the two species

The palm oil industry in Indonesia has led to widespread deforestation, making it hard to find remaining signs of archaic life.

The Search to Find the Remains of Homo Erectus in a Vanishing Landscape

A paleontologist journeys through Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago in search of our earliest ancestors, and uncovers how environmental devastation has erased much of the region’s history

Researchers discovered 614 stone plaques and fragments at Vasagård West, an archaeological site on the Danish island of Bornholm.

New Research

Neolithic Farmers May Have Buried These Mysterious Stones to Bring Back the Sun After a Volcanic Eruption

Using ice core samples, researchers linked a natural disaster with a trove of nearly 5,000-year-old artifacts discovered at an archaeological site in Denmark

BlueGreen Water Technologies treats a harmful algal bloom in Doctors Lake in Clay County, Florida.

How Cleaning Up Harmful Algal Blooms Could Help Fight Climate Change

A company called BlueGreen Water Technologies aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while also fighting algae’s toxic effects on people and the environment

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There's More to That

How to Use Renaissance Paintings to Improve the Farming of Tomorrow

An arboreal archaeologist roots around the Italian countryside and in centuries-old frescoes for a cornucopia of fruits long forgotten—but still viable to grow and consume

The endangered Woodville Karst cave crayfish (Procambarus orcinus)

Freshwater Animals Are More Fragile Than Thought, With Nearly a Quarter Threatened With Extinction, Study Finds

Species in Lake Victoria, Lake Titicaca, Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone and the Western Ghats of India are particularly vulnerable to the effects of agriculture, human infrastructure and climate change, per the paper

The Danish-Swedish farmdog is now eligible to participate in all the American Kennel Club's events and competitions.

Energetic and Loyal: Meet the Danish-Swedish Farmdog, the Newest Breed Recognized by the American Kennel Club

These small but mighty pups have roots on family farms in Denmark and Sweden, where they helped catch rodents, herd livestock, hunt and watch over the property

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