So let’s talk farming.

Let’s stop beating up on poor Michael Pollan for a while, why don’t we, and switch gears to farming. For obviously there are more than a few misconceptions about it out there. I’m not a farmer mind you, though I am descended from a long line of corn and soy farmers and elevator operators (grain elevator, that is…though there is at least one of the “going up?” kind in the gene pool as well). I certainly don’t know everything about farming, though I know enough, as my father likes to say, to keep non-farmers off balance.

Over the next day or two I’ll spend a little time writing about the three major types of corn agriculture practiced today: conventional, GMO and organic. Each is very different from the others, though all — at least to my mind — are misunderstood. But before I dive into that I think it’s worth talking a little bit about the plant itself…