Farmland, Indiana, USA

Welcome to cognitive dissonance. Farmland is located in the North American Corn Belt. But, the grain elevator rising above Main Street just screams Wheat Belt, and the mural suggests there might just be a Tomato Belt somewhere nearby. [2018]

Waitsburg, Washington, USA

Grain mills usually receive grain. This one receives mail. It captures local color, exemplifies the Palouse's economic base, and transforms the roadside into a museum of shop projects. [2019]

Laurel, Delaware, USA

It may be called a potato house, but it is really a potato barn, a place where potatoes, especially sweet potatoes, could be stored as they were harvested every fall. Temperatures had to be controlled (see the chimney?) and air had to be kept circulating (see the high-up ventilation doors?). Unique to Delaware and Maryland, few remain on the landscape. [2022]

Cleveland, North Dakota, USA

Welcome to Geography Awareness Week: It's time to appreciate maps on the landscape! The one on this coop grain elevator is easy to miss. That's because North Dakota's shape is so boxy. If you are still not seeing the map, here's a hint: It is framed in yellow. Your assignment for the week: Keep track of all maps that circulate into your field of vision. [2021]

Canal Winchester, Ohio, USA

Towering above all other buildings in the Canal Winchester Historical Complex is the cathedral-like grain elevator, a sign of agricultural prosperity. The rail line came in 1869, quickly diluting the importance of the Ohio and Erie Canal as a means of getting the crops to the market. Today, the canal is a memory perpetuated only by the town's name. [2017]

Belle Fourche, South Dakota, USA

The Dakota Mill and Grain elevator serves as the economic hub of town. Grain elevators like these receive grain from nearby farmers; they store the grain and use the force of gravity to load it into trucks or railway cars for shipment out. The Dakota operation, however, takes it one step further: It is set up for milling the grain on site. [2019]

Freeze, Idaho, USA

It's always noteworthy when the outbuilding is bigger than the barn. Both look like they are of similar age. If fact, both look like they have prolonged their existence beyond their useful lifetimes. Their destiny is simply to succumb to the elements. [2019]

Red Wing, Minnesota, USA

Silos like these punctuate the American wheat belt, and Red Wing early evolved as one of the centers of wheat production. Why? The Mississippi River tells the story. Not only was the land and climate ideal for cereals, but the river was ideal for getting grain to market. Then came the railroads, and the river lost some of its significance as a highway. [2021]

Apple Valley, Utah, USA

Cattle Valley might be a more appropriate name than Apple Valley. And, were it not for that water pump windmill (or "wind engine"), even cattle could not live in southern Utah. Scenes like this are seen all over the intermountain West where watering holes must be engineered to keep the ranching economy afloat. [2019]

Edgeley, North Dakota, USA

What do we put on a pedestal in American culture? Farming. More specifically, we have elevated the family farm to almost God-like status. Here, our gaze is forced upward, where the great god of farming, John Deere, is elevated to a position of honor upon the altar. [2021]

Dalton, Nebraska, USA

Educated guess: The sunflower crop has been hit by a defoliant because the uniformity of dessication is exactly what the oil mill ordered. Just imagine how beautiful this field was when in full bloom. It's just too bad Nebraska didn't beat Kansas to proclaiming the sunflower the state's official flower. Nebraska had to settle for the goldenrod. [2019]

Freeze, Idaho, USA

You are in the Wheat Belt but you are not on the Great Plains. Where are you?  In The Palouse, close to the border between Washington (3rd largest producer of wheat) and Idaho (6th largest producer of wheat). The harvest starts in July and continues into September. [2019]

Gurley, Nebraska, USA

 
What you might be witnessing here is a wheat glut: too much for the grain silos and not enough market demand to reduce the size of the gluten mountains that have added some relief to rail-side topography. Evidence that it has been here for a while: rill erosion turning into gully erosion. Gurley finds itself on the western edge of the Great Plains Wheat Belt. [2019]

Montfort, Wisconsin, USA

 

If you're proud of your community, get its name out there. Put it where everyone can see it. Water towers are perfect. In fact, every water tower in the world should proudly proclaim pride in the place that erected it. Let Montfort set the example. [2019]

Ashland, Virginia, USA

Loveworks Connect: Unlike other towns of similar size, Ashland has retained its passenger rail station, and everyone who arrives is given a little love, compliments of the town's welcome wagon, which serves up a timeless message on top of a visual reminder of the agricultural past. John Deere altered that past, He was born on this date in 1804 in Vermont. [2018]

Waitsburg, Washington, USA

Bales of hay that look like this, each weighing about 100 pounds, are becoming distant memories. Round bales, each weighing up to 1500 pounds, are taking their place. Small square balers do not support the economies of scale at which farms today must operate. [2019]

Branchville, Virginia, USA

Speaking of goobers (no, not the people outside, the legumes inside): Did you know they are an important part of African-American history? They were introduced from Africa by slaves; the name goober comes from an African language, and a man who was born into slavery discovered they can be transformed into 300 products. What was his name? [2015]

Baker, Montana, USA

Montana's state map – the outline alone – says it all: mountains and natural boundaries in the west vs. plains and geometric boundaries in the east. Don't be confused, though. Even when you are here on the Great Plains, you are still 3000 feet above sea level. Mountainous topography doesn't have a monopoly on high elevation. [2019]

Momence, Illinois, USA

Unraveling rural color codes: Ford tractors are blue; International Harvester tractors are red. John Deere tractors are green; Allis-Chalmers tractors are orange. Minneapolis-Moline tractors are yellow(ish). Case tractors are gray. What company made the tractor atop this silo? [1999]

Biglerville, Pennsylvania, USA

Depending on immigrant farm labor is nothing new. For decades, someone has had to pick the peaches. Native-born younglings find that there are too many other ways to make a living in the American economy. So, thank you to the immigrants who keep our palates pleased and our prices low (thanks to their paltry hourly wages). [1993]