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.
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price signals, Chicago Mercantile Exchange |
