The Smithsonian's Ag Exhibit

The Smithsonian’s Ag Exhibit. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

A new exhibit at the Smithsonian will show how agriculture has played an important role in American business according to the Smithsonian’s Peter Liebhold and he says it’s critical for people to understand the various innovations that have happened in agriculture since World War II.

LIEBHOLD: I can read books and historic articles and talk to other academics but it’s going out into the field, riding the combine, talking to farmers and hearing them explain to me what’s going on and hearing about the complexity that is really interesting. Our basic thought is a farmer today, if you sit in the seat of the tractor it’s really like being in the office of a CEO of a major corporation and that the decisions that are being made are major.

Here is a an interesting fact. Did you know that at the beginning of American history - 96-percent of Americans were farmers - so everyone knew agriculture’s importance.

LIEBHOLD: Today less than 2% of American’s are farmers and they’re just as important. They’re producing more food and keeping everybody healthy but few people have contact with farming so it’s really important that museums like our that are visited by millions of people have a strong story that shows what farmers are doing.

The exhibit called, “American Enterprise” will open in the Spring of 2015.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.