Our 10 Most Popular Stories (and 10 We Wish More People Read)
Read the most-read stories and some we wish got more attention.
Our 10 Most Popular Stories
1. Will a Sheep’s Wool Grow Forever?
One day at ModFarm HQ, we came across an amazing series of photos of Shrek the Sheep, a New Zealand merino sheep that at somehow evaded shearing for 17 years. Which made us all realize: we had no idea if a sheep’s wool would grow forever. Staff writer Jesse Hirsch decided to get the bottom of the story, and it turned out the Internet was just as curious as we were to find out.
2. Whey Too Much: Greek Yogurts’s Dark Side
We’re huge fans of Greek yogurt at the ModFarm office. (Seriously, look how much we go through while closing an issue. It’s kind of a problem.) But Justin Elliott’s piece, looking at acid whey, a potentially toxic byproduct produced by Greek yougurt makers, was quickly picked up by nearly every outlet out there. Senior editor Andy Wright’s amazing art direction didn’t hurt either. As for Greek yogurt fans, both Dannon and Chobani have pledged to figured how to handle acid whey — so our favorite snack hasn’t been completely ruined.
3. Breathtaking Tribute to a Fallen Farmer
When photographer Matt Rubel sent these photos in, showing the tribute a small farming community made to Kyle Hendrix, farmer and father of two who passed away too young at the age of 31, we knew we had to run them. But what makes this story special for us was that readers then donated funds to Hendrix’s children. You can still donate to the Kaleb and Khloe Hendrix Scholarship Fund by contacting First State Bank of Monticello, 201 West Main Street, Monticello, Illinois, 61856, (217) 762-9431). After the story went national, Hendrix was honored on the floor of the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis.
4. The Modern Farmer Pie Chart of Pies
Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the best. Managing editor Molly Birnbaum’s pie chart of seasonal pies is a perfect example of that. Great concept, delicious execution.
5. Space Farming: The Final Frontier
Staff writer Jesse Hirsch’s took a trip to hang out in Florida with the scientists of NASA who want to grow lettuce in outer space is, in a lot of ways, the Platonic idea of a ModFarm story. There’s neato tech, there’s fun characters (including an astronaut who keeps an anthropomorphic diary of a space zucchini), and, of course an actual application. Right now growing plants in space is mainly seen as a therapeutic process — it helps keep the astronauts sane orbiting miles above terra firma — but with NASA already announcing plans to grow lettuce in space, there’s no doubt that if mankind is gonna make it to the stars, farming is gonna be part of it.
6. Why It’s Illegal to Use Milk Crates for Anything Besides Milk
ModFarm writer Andrew K. Jenner noticed that all the milk crates he used to store his recycling carried stiff warnings on the side. Those using the crates for non-milk purposes were criminals, the warning chided, and could be prosecuted as such. He investigated just why it’s such a big deal that college kids have been storing their vinyl in the colorful containers for years. The results? An industry that says it loses over $80 million in stolen milk crates annually.
7. Cow Tipping: Fake or Really Fake?
You could call it an urban myth, but it’s really more rural. For generations, city slickers have believed that folks outside the major cosmopolitan areas of the country spend their night times boozed up and shoving over cattle asleep on their feet.The only problem, digital director Jake Swearingen found, is nothing about the myth stands up. Cows sleep on their stomachs, weigh about as much as a small auto, and don’t (like any creature) really enjoy getting shoved over their side. This, of course, didn’t stop readers from claiming they had once tipped over cattle themselves. The real proof cow tipping doesn’t exist? YouTube, the repository for all human stupidity, doesn’t have a single cow-tipping video on it — and even readers who claimed to have tipped a cow were mysteriously unable to dig up evidence.
8. The Official Modern Farmer Goat Week GoatCam
There are occasionally stories that we know are going to popular on ModFarm. But GoatCam took us all by surprise. To this day, we still usually have a couple of dedicated fans, watching goats wander around, bleat, and be — well, goats. As part of our Goat Week festivities, we even got to witness the (somewhat slimy) miracle of birth — and experience the miracle of one of the biggest traffic spikes modernfarmer.com has ever seen.
9. Who Can Stop These Adorable Pigs?
One of the first stories we assigned from our first issue, this is a classic piece of magazine journalism. Trotting all across the globe, we learned about how feral pigs — voracious, fast-breeding and intelligent as anything — have become one of the biggest invasive creatures the world has ever seen. Think you can just hunt your way out of the problem? Think again — pigs are far too wily and breed far too fast for pure hunting to eliminate the pest problem. The best hope right now, according to scientists? Birth control. When you’re hoping for the pill for pigs, things have gotten dire.
10. This Is What Humane Slaughter Looks Like. Is It Good Enough?
Another story from our first issue, this one comes from investigative reporter Mac MacClelland who took a long, searching look at the current state of humane slaughter. MacClelland discovered that the state of “cruetlty free” meat is wrapped up in a familiar dilemma many omnivores have grappled with — an imperfect system that is still leagues better than it was even a decade ago, serving a world whose hunger for meat only seems to be growing.
The Ugly Ducklings (Or, the Stories We Wish More People Had Read)
What They’re Saying On Chinese Social Media About Smithfield
My unsung hero story of 2013 is Evan Rogers Pay’s report on how Chinese social media reacted to the buyout of Smithfield (America’s largest pork producer) by China’s largest meat processor. From the US, we were all griping that China was getting too involved in our food industry. But the Chinese saw it differently. “Many Chinese have expressed hope that the Smithfield deal will help clean up their food.” The story addresses so many issues about food security in China and illuminates how daily concerns about China’s ability to feed its population is a problem that affects all of us — and how different your perspective can be depending on where you call home.
Bonus Favorite: 10 Things I Learned from Lambs
Everything that shepherd Craig Rogers says here illuminates exactly why I started Modern Farmer, and why I believe farming is something we all need to know more about.
— Ann Marie Gardner, Editor-in-Chief and CEO
Farm Fakes: A History of Fraudulent Food
This is the kind of story that is hard to place: not exactly newsy but a long, interesting take on one of the most persistent food problems, food fakery. This can take any number of forms, but readers of Shoshana Walter’s story will learn about swill dairy from New York State in the 1870s up to today’s issues with China and the global supply chain. (Plus, I love the anecdote that opens this story! World’s worst farm con.)
Bonus article: The Farmer Suicide Phenomenon
Social media druids claim that people only want to share positive stories that burnish the sharer’s reputation, something this story about the farmer suicide situation in India and elsewhere won’t do. Not much Upworthing happening here. But it’s a really well-reported look at the forces that put many farmers at risk of ending their own lives. The culprit, in many instances, is climate change, as fields that once grew plentiful have been wrecked by too much rain or shattering drought.
— Reyhan Harmanci, Executive Editor
You get a pass, readers, for not snapping this one up. Peter Andrey Smith’s long and colorful tale about the hunt for what is devastating Florida’s storied orange industry was one of the first we published on the web. Perhaps you hadn’t found us yet. At any rate, this is a crackling scientific whodunit with lots of suspects and fun characters, like Ben Griffith, a major grower in Florida’s citrus scene: “A plaque outside describes the company founder, with no apparent irony, Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., as a baron.”
Bonus article: Guarded but Growing in the DMZ
An unexpected and lovely travel story about the farmers on either side of the Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, with lush illustrations by sister team Maggie Prendergast and Catie Prendergast.
— Andy Wright, Senior Editor
Somali Farmers Find a New Home in Maine
This article by Laura McCandlish tells the story of a small but growing group of Somali refugees — mainly women — who have made a home and found a community farming in Lewiston, Maine. It’s a quiet, hopeful tale, so I can see why it may not have found its way to the farthest reaches of the web. But this visually stunning piece — just take a glance at Amy Temples luminous portraits — is well worth a read.
I wrote this story about a National Guard Unit out of Minnesota that deployed to Afghanistan in order to teach locals to farm before I even came on to Modern Farmer as managing editor. These Agribusiness Development Teams are a little known element of this long-running war — a valuable holiday reminder. Also, cute pictures of goats.
–Molly Birnbaum, Managing Editor
Rat Cheese: Internet Hoax or Future Delicacy?
When a story about rat cheese doesn’t go viral, I must confess a deep lack of understanding on how the Internet works. The story centers on The Federation of Rodent Cheese Makers, which, granted, is likely a hoax. But writer Sam Brasch (one of Modern Farmer‘s finest) tackles the topic in earnest, musing on everything from flavor to logistics. How many rodents would produce the equivalent of one dairy cow? What kind of cheese would be best-suited to rat milk’s high fat content? How about beverage pairings? This story was made to be shared!
— Jesse Hirsch, Staff Writer
Why Coffee Pooped Out of a Brazilian Bird Sells For Big Bucks
While Kopi Lowak coffee has become something of a Internet sensation, coffee beans collected from the droppings of the shy, reclusive Jacu bird in Brazil still fly under the radar. This was a colorful, well-told story of a farmer who found an inventive way to deal with what could have been an an invasive pest, and in the process created a brand new (and very lucrative) market. Plus, I’m always a sucker for any story that has this line in it: “The real challenge lay in convincing my coffee pickers that instead of berries, they needed to be hunting for bird-shit.”
— Jake Swearingen, Digital Director
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