Farm Bureau Teams Up with Smithsonian Museum

American Farm Bureau Federation partners with the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. to feature farm innovations.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is reaching out to farmers and agribusinesses to build a collection that reflects modern farming practices. Curators are seeking stories, photographs and ephemera to record and preserve the innovations and experiences of farming.

"Agriculture has played a vital role in the development of America's business sector, from innovation to the entrepreneurial spirit," said American Farm Bureau Federation's Julie Anna Potts. "As the nation's largest farm organization, it made sense for Farm Bureau to partner with the museum."

A New Exhibit
This new collection of stories, photos and objects will play a role in the "American Enterprise" exhibition, an 8,000-square-foot multimedia experience that will immerse visitors in the dramatic arc of the nation's story, focusing on the role of business and innovation in the United States from the mid-1700s to the present. The exhibition is scheduled to open in May 2015.

"American agriculture has gone through a tremendous transformation in the last seven decades, becoming a high-tech industry, deeply affecting not just farmers themselves, but every American and the American experience in general," said the museum's Peter Liebhold.

Illinois Farmers Are Already Donating.
You Can, Too!
Illinois farmers are already making a splash. The Museum posted sample stories and two of them are from Illinois Farmers. Sharon Covert shared her story about walking beans and Jim Rapp donated a no-till sign and talked about early adoption of this environmentally-friendly practice.

The museum has made it easy for you to share your story and treasures, too. In Honor of National Agriculture Day, the Smithsonian unveiled a new website this week, where you can upload stories about technologies and innovation that have changed your work lives in agriculture-stories about precision farming, food-borne illness tracking, environmental concerns, government practices, irrigation, biotechnology and hybrid seeds.