US agriculture being archived

Posted: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 8:00 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is collecting stories about agriculture innovations for a future exhibition on American business.
The museum recently launched a web portal for people to share stories, photographs and materials about innovations that changed farming. The museum also is accepting items already donated by farmers in Illinois, Tennessee and California for a new agriculture archive.
New artifacts include road signs about organic farming and decreasing soil erosion, a GPS tractor guidance system and dairy equipment showing the change to a computer-run system. The museum also holds Eli Whitney’s cotton gin.
Agribusiness will be part of a new exhibit on “American Enterprise” opening in 2015. Monsanto Co. recently donated $2 million, and the United Soybean Board gave $1 million to support the project.

Published in The Messenger 4.2.13