Meet Alexander and Charlie - the farm boy and his helpful dog who narrate the busy life of a modern, working soybean farm in this fun and informative picture book about a family growing one of the top crops of American agriculture The busy days and many jobs of a farm family, the life cycle of a soybean plant, and its life as a crop getting to market are all detailed in My Family's Soybean Farm, a picture book on what it takes to grow soybeans, and how the crop becomes the many products we use every day. Each spread walks readers through the many steps of planting and growing the crop throughout the seasons, with extensive text features placed beside the story offering range of additional information for readers, from STEM concepts to illustrations of farm equipment, diagrams, and more. The family's working together is highlighted throughout, across traditional roles and with modern-day tech: Alexander watches as Mom drives the tractor in a modern cab complete with GPS technology, and later, he and Dad check the crop both with age-old techniques like walking the fields ("crop scouting") and by using the latest drone technology, too. Detailed drawings show the life cycle of the soybean crop, as well as diagrams on larger concepts, like how soybeans are alternated with corn for soil preservation. Illustrations and information about literally every farm vehicle and other vehicles involved in growing soybeans and getting them to market are also here - including tractor and planter, sprayer, wagons and grain bins, processors, and finally, even barges and trains to get the crops to markets both domestic and around the world. Spreads also show how soybeans are used in a range of products, from Charlie's bowl of dog food, to foods like soy sauce, feed for farm animals, and more. About the publisher: Feeding Minds Press is a project of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture whose mission is to build awareness and understanding of agriculture through education. We focus on helping young readers understand where their food comes from, who grows it, and how it gets to them and believe in cultivating curiosity about food and farming and how agriculture plays a role in our daily lives. All books from Feeding Minds Press have accompanying lessons, activities, and videos to further learning available on their website, www.feedingmindspress.com.

Winner of the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize 2019 selection for the One Book One Nebraska and All Iowa state reading programs "Genoways gives the reader a kitchen-table view of the vagaries, complexities, and frustrations of modern farming…Insightful and empathetic." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, and yet its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a farm, and for forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation homestead in Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their family farm—and their entire way of life—are under siege on many fronts, from shifting trade policies, to encroaching pipelines, to climate change. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted Genoways explores the rapidly changing world of small, traditional farming operations. He creates a vivid, nuanced portrait of a radical new landscape and one family’s fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love.

A NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book Famous car-maker and businessman Henry Ford loved beans. And he showed great innovation with his determination to build his most inventive car--one completely made of soybeans. With a mind for ingenuity, Henry Ford looked to improve life for others. After the Great Depression struck, Ford especially wanted to support ailing farmers. For two years, Ford and his team researched ways to use farmers' crops in his Ford Motor Company. They discovered that the soybean was the perfect answer. Soon, Ford's cars contained many soybean plastic parts, and Ford incorporated soybeans into every part of his life. He ate soybeans, he wore clothes made of soybean fabric, and he wanted to drive soybeans, too. Award-winning author Peggy Thomas and illustrator Edwin Fotheringham explore this American icon's little-known quest.

Meet Coolbean the Soybean! He’s a super bean, but he has something very important in common with kids everywhere. He needs the support and knowledge of his family and friends - including an awesome farmer and some smart scientists - to grow up. Follow Coolbean’s life cycle, from being planted in a cozy bed of healthy soil, to developing flowers and pods, to a happy harvest. See why soybeans are special beans all over the world, feeding billions of people and used for making many other products, from crayons to cars! ...all in alignment with common core standards for reading and science. Aimed at Grades 3 - 5, but lovable by all ages.

An epic story of the American wheat harvest, the politics of food, and the culture of the Great Plains For over one hundred years, the Mockett family has owned a seven-thousand-acre wheat farm in the panhandle of Nebraska, where Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s father was raised. Mockett, who grew up in bohemian Carmel, California, with her father and her Japanese mother, knew little about farming when she inherited this land. Her father had all but forsworn it. In American Harvest, Mockett accompanies a group of evangelical Christian wheat harvesters through the heartland at the invitation of Eric Wolgemuth, the conservative farmer who has cut her family’s fields for decades. As Mockett follows Wolgemuth’s crew on the trail of ripening wheat from Texas to Idaho, they contemplate what Wolgemuth refers to as “the divide,” inadvertently peeling back layers of the American story to expose its contradictions and unhealed wounds. She joins the crew in the fields, attends church, and struggles to adapt to the rhythms of rural life, all the while continually reminded of her own status as a person who signals “not white,” but who people she encounters can’t quite categorize. American Harvest is an extraordinary evocation of the land and a thoughtful exploration of ingrained beliefs, from evangelical skepticism of evolution to cosmopolitan assumptions about food production and farming. With exquisite lyricism and humanity, this astonishing book attempts to reconcile competing versions of our national story.

When you grow up on a farm, adventures happen all day long - even at night! On a cold winter evening, a father and daughter go out to the barn and are welcomed with a warm scene. Who is awake, who is asleep, and who is just making their first appearance in the barn?Michelle Houts' lyrical poetry paired with Jen Betton's glowing watercolors create a warm and wonderful bedtime story - best shared together.

Meet Presley - a farm girl who narrates the busy life of a modern, working corn farm in this fun and informative picture book about a family growing one of the top crops of American agriculture There's a lot of jobs to do on the family farm! Presley and her farm family work on planting corn, watching for pests, monitoring rain fall so plants get the right amount of water, harvesting the corn, exploring how corn is used in many products, and learning how to be more sustainable farmers. My Family's Corn Farm is a picture book that includes the life cycle of the corn plant, parts of the corn plant, what a corn plant needs to grow, different types of corn and their uses, how farmers work to prevent erosion with cover crops, and how farmers are continuously learning how to be better stewards of the land. The book also showcases farm vehicles and technology such as a tractor, combine, grain bin, and planter. Readers also see how corn can be used for many types of products from ethanol to corn chips, corn syrup, corn starch and more. Easy to read glossary defines the following: acre, bushel, combine, crops, ethanol, farmer, feed, fuel, harvest, kernel, livestock and nutrients. My Family's Corn Farm is a great way to teach about plant life cycles, farm families, and American agriculture. About the publisher: Feeding Minds Press is a project of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture whose mission is to build awareness and understanding of agriculture through education. We focus on helping young readers understand where their food comes from, who grows it, and how it gets to them and believe in cultivating curiosity about food and farming and how agriculture plays a role in our daily lives. All books from Feeding Minds Press have accompanying lessons, activities, and videos to further learning available on their website, www.feedingmindspress.com