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BACKGROUND INFO & RESEARCH
Industrial Harvest
necessarily involved a large amount of research about the massive systems that feed us. What follows is a smattering of essays, maps, and graphics that show what I've found so far.  

Blog - research, essays, wheat-related recipes, other related activities and events.

"A Geography of Illinois Wheat" (pdf) created for AREA Chicago's "Peripheral Vision" issue.  

Go here for a short introduction to wheat growing and futures markets. Although this is based on a fair amount of research I am solely responsible for any errors; email me with corrections or additions.

A series of essays written early on in the development of this project, as part of a virtual residency on Anne Elizabeth Moore's blog, Democracy Guest List.  This link starts on page 2 (the earliest posts) - it makes a lot more sense if you go through the posts chronologically.

~LINKS~
Every Tuesday, the Jane Addams Hull House Museum presents Rethinking Soup, with soup, bread and discussions about food & other timely topics.  

FUTURES / COMMODITIES TRADING
- A short lesson on the history of futures trading
- Wheat futures on the CME / CBOT (this link is to the "mini" 1000 bushel contract, the one I bought)
- Monthly wheat futures data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Wheat in brief, courtesy the USDA. Also see the USDA's Wheat Yearbook and Wheat Outlook for more detail about trends and global markets; this page has links to a number of documents that dig into all of this stuff (it's all from a dry, government perspective, so be prepared to read between the lines and stay caffeinated during the experience).
- I can't say I know much about the reportage over at bakeryandsnacks.com, but I found this article about potentially excessive speculation in the wheat market to be quite well-written and helpful. This one too, from the Billings Gazette.
- Those of who need to brush up on our futures trading vocabulary can check out the CFTC's glossary.

WHEAT GROWING & AGRONOMY
- What types of wheat grow where
- Illinois Agronomy Handbook, a crazy thorough resource
- The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University
- Gene Logsdon, a small farmer and writer who's been fighting the good fight for years now from my home state of Ohio (my parents remember him from their back to the land heyday). His book, Small Scale Grain Raising, is a classic that will tell you how to grow wheat (and other grains) in your backyard garden using traditional or mechanized sowing and harvesting methods.
- The Land Institute is another sustainable agronomy institute working on growing perennial varieties of common grain crops, including wheat.
- Those of us who can't grow real wheat can plant a virtual wheat field, courtesy of the Wheat Foods Council (disclaimer:  I have not actually tried this).   

BIG AG
- This report, from the conservative CATO institute, is cleverly disguised as a great piece of investigative reporting on how agricultural corporations use money and political influence to benefit from USDA subsidies.

GOOD PEOPLE
- Claire Pentecost, public amateur and agribusiness documentarian
- Great essay on complex financial mechanisms and beautiful art about them, by Brian Holmes.
- Bonnie Fortune  
- Anne E. Moore  
- Nance Klehm
- Cathi Bouzide
- Mike Wolf

GOOD ORGANIZATIONS
- American Corn Growers Association - national association for progressive, independent corn growers.
- GRAIN - international organization supporting small-scale, independent farmers and food sovereignty
- The Land Connection - helping IL farmers continue to be good stewards of the land
- AREAChicago - Chicago area art, history and activism, in paper & online
- Temporary Services - collusions between public space, activism, journalism.
- Mess Hall - art is messy.  Why not embrace it?
- InCUBATE - INstitute for Community Understanding Between Art And The Everyday.  It takes some smart people to come up with an acronym that good.


URBAN AG in & around Chicago...this barely scratches the surface of all that's going on; I'll try to add more links as time goes by...
- Angelic Organics Learning Center and Angelic Organics, the farm.
- Growing Power
- Growing Home
- Neighborspace helps establish and protect community gardens in Chicago.

NEW BUSINESS MODELS
- The Backstory Cafe - small business as art.
- Midwest Organic Farmers' Cooperative - your source in the Midwest for organic, identity-preserved grains
- Shepherds' Grain - an alliance of wheat growers in Washington dedicated to sustainable farming practices.  



price signals, Chicago Mercantile Exchange