Farm

by Grant Heilman

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0896598896
• ISBN13: 9780896598898
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: Abbeville Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 3.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 10.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Down on the farm

What attracted me to this book years ago (it was published in 1988) was the name Grant Heilman who took the photos or rather they were selected from the Heilman agricultural photo library. For a book that covers US agriculture in the broadest sense the image content throughout the book is very impressive as is the contents: Blockbuster crops (wheat, corn, soybeans); Southern crops (cotton, tobacco, rice); Animal (beef, diary cattle, poultry, hogs, sheep); Vegetables, Fruit and nuts (potatoes, lettuce, artichokes, apples, citrus, berries, grapes, kiwifruit, almonds). The last chapter: The Changing Scene dealing with new crops, alternative agriculture and politics is probably the most out of date section. Who could have predicted thirty or so years ago the huge increase and power of the agri-corporations, the use of grain for ethanol production (gasohol in these pages) and accelerating water shortages in the western states. On the other hand some things never change: Washington agricultural subsidies. The book is aimed at the general reader and I enjoyed the easy conversational style of the writing. Some of it deals with technical aspects of farming but it's still very accessible. Nice touches, in several parts of the book, are sidebar spreads that look at specific subjects with photos and long captions. Like the text the two hundred photos are well chosen and fortunately there's no wastage. Every one works to tell it's story and though they must have been taken by many different photographers there is a uniformity of composition and color that make a pleasant evenness as you turn the pages. Despite being some years old I still think this is an interesting wrap-up of agriculture, though it's worth saying this isn't an historical survey or a nostalgic look at farming communities. ***SEE SOME INSIDE SPREADS by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.