Having now actually viewed King Corn, that PBS documentary that I mentioned a few days ago, I can heartily recommend it.

The film tracks Ian and Curt, two recent college graduates, as they farmed one acre of corn for one year. What's amazing that at no point do the guys actually appear to be farming, at least in any recognizable way. It's looks more like wedding planning. They make appointments for the giant planting machine to plant their seeds and arrange times for the herbicide truck to spray their plot. They manage to get through the year without getting a speck of dirt on their buttoned-downs.

If there's one thing that King Corn could have done better is to explain how modern farming has gone whole hog in embracing the division of labor approach to capitalism. There are plenty of sad farmers on displaying, lamenting the end of family farming, but there are only a handful of mentions of the corporate agriculture that has replaced it. (Photo thx JBAT)