Reading List

A work in progress, as we’re always reading and learning:

BEANS

Beans: A History, Ken Albala
Heirloom Beans: Recipes from Rancho Gordo, Vanessa Barrington, Steve Sando
The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Grower’s Guide, Steve Sando
The Story of Bean Breeding: White paper prepared for BeanCAP & PBG Works on the topic of dry bean production and breeding research in the U.S., Michigan State University, James D. Kelly
Got Gas? It Could Mean You’ve Got Healthy Gut Microbes, The Salt blog for NPR, Michaeleen Doucleff

CORN

Beautiful Corn: America’s Original Grain from Seed to Plate, Anthony Boutard

FARM POLICY & POLITICS

Before Rosie the Riveter, Farmerettes Went to Work, SmithsonianMag.com, Elaine F. Weiss
Farm Bill Standstill Soon To End [2014], Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Wes King
Half of U.S. Farmland Being Eyed by Private Equity, Inter Press Service, Carey L. Biron
Is Tyson Foods’ Chicken Empire A ‘Meat Racket’?, NPR
Should Farmers Give John Deere And Monsanto Their Data?, The Salt blog for NPR, Dan Charles
In The Making Of Megafarms, A Few Winners And Many Losers, The Salt blog for NPR, Dan Charles
40 maps that explain food in America, vox.com, Ezra Klein & Susannah Locke

FARM FINANCES

Rock-star urban farmer is all about the money, Vancouver Sun, Randy Shore
What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living, Salon, Jaclyn Moyer
The food movement has only just begun, Los Angeles Times, Lynne Curry

GENETIC MODIFICATION

A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops, The New York Times, Amy Harmon
Genetic Weapon Against Insects Raises Hope and Fear in Farming, The New York Times, Andrew Pollack
Panic-Free GMOs [series], Grist, Nathanael Johnson
Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It, Wired, Brandon Keim
The Next Generation of GM Crops Has Arrived—And So Has the Controversy, Wired, Brandon Keim
How I Got Converted to G.M.O. Food, New York Times Sunday Review, Mark Lynas
The Biggest Concerns About GMO Food Aren’t Really About GMOs, vitals.lifehacker.com, Beth Skwarecki

Modern Agriculture: Ecological impacts and the possibilities for truly sustainable farming, Miguel Altieri

SEED SAVING & NATIVE PLANTS

Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation, Gary Paul Nabhan
Indian Givers: How Native Americans Transformed the World, Jack Weatherford
From Past to Present: Why Heirloom Varietals Matter, Slow Food USA, Lee Greene

SOIL MANAGEMENT

The Biological Farmer: A Complete Guide to the Sustainable & Profitable Biological System of Farming, Gary F. Zimmer

Advancing Biological Farming, Gary F. Zimmer & Leilani Zimmer-Durand

WEED MANAGEMENT

The Irony of Giant Ragweed, The Contrary Farmer blog, Gene Logsdon

WHEAT & OTHER SMALL GRAINS

What if Everything You Knew About Grains Was Wrong?, Civil Eats, Twilight Greenaway
Where’s The Whole Grain In Most Of Our Wheat Bread?, The Salt blog on NPR, Allison Aubrey
Farro: An Ancient And Complicated Grain Worth Figuring Out, Kitchen Window blog on NPR, Laura B. Weiss
High-Gluten Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour, SF Gate’s Health Eating blog, Lisa Coffman
Fresh Off the Mill: Up your baking game with fresh flour, Tasting Table, Emily Codik
Against the Grain: Should you go gluten-free?, The New Yorker, Michael Specter
How Bread Has Come Full Circle, http://www.sourdough.co.uk, Vanessa Kimbell