11/09/05 Artistic farming

As you farmers tediously plow under last years crops, take heart for what you are doing is might just be art. I have always loved the tapestries of planted fields, the graphic circles made from the pivots, the shapes craved from combines. Oblivious to the effect their plantings have on the public, farmers create temporary masterpieces ( sort of like sand castles that wash away with the tide) change with the season. Now in artist in LA , Lauren Bon has taken the concept of farm art to the city in what could be the most expensive 28 acres of corn ever planted . Ms. Bon received a grant of three million dollars to plant corn in an artistic pattern that she titled "Not a Cornfield ". The exhibit will be removed when the corn is harvested this month. The three million dollar cornfield could be a wake up call for all your tractor jockeys, your disking might be just be revealing the liner artist in you. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought. Source: New York Times 10/30/05 Putting the culture in agriculture.