The debate about widespread use of genetically modified crops is still contentious. On one hand, you have the strong-arm tactics from the likes of the Monsanto corporation. On the other, there are stories like this. By using a special form of genetically modified cotton, smallhold farmers in India have been able to…

In the early 20th century, Du Pont released a series of pamphlets touting what it claimed to be the greatest agricultural innovation since the plow: dynamite. These pamphlets explain how explosives could help with everything from clearing tree stumps to regenerating soil.

The Amazon covers over 2.5 million square miles. But that number is shrinking all the time, and the widespread deforestation could doom our hopes for averting catastrophic global climate change. That's why some ancient farming secrets could make a huge difference.

What's fabulous about this urban mushroom farm isn't just that it produces 200 pounds of mushrooms in just a few weeks using recycled coffee grounds. It's also that it's small enough and attractive enough to sit in a lobby, a storefront, or any other public indoor space.

During the short six-to-seven-week life of a factory-raised broiler chicken, the bird is crammed into close quarters with thousands of other chickens selectively bred to mature at an unhealthily fast rate.

Of course cows, pigs, and chickens belong on farms, and nobody looks askance at a farm full of llamas or buffalos. But there are some farm animals you might not expect. And when I say "not expect," I mean holy crap WTF - why are these animals being farmed?

While waiting around in their pens, swine can get ornery and restless. To placate the porkers, a group of Dutch designers are devising a basic video game that allows humans to square off against pigs (and vice versa). It's an extremely cute idea until you realize your porcine opponents are bacon-bound.

One of the runners-up for the recent Animal Architecture Awards is also one of my favorites from the competition: "Farmland World" by Allison Newmeyer and Stewart Hicks of the Chicago-based Design With Company.

A generation ago, most farms were still relatively small and independent, but the past 20-30 years have seen factory farms become a quasi-monopoly. What will farms look like a generation from now?

Humans like to think we invented agriculture, but a single-celled organism might have us beaten by several million years. An amoeba species known as "Dicty" finds bacteria, moves them to the best location, and harvests them like crops.