Anybody in the ag industry can reel off a list of advances in farming technology that revolutionized agriculture in the 20th and 21st centuries.  But most consumers don’t know about those developments. So, the Farming: Past and Present exhibit helps them discover how modern farming grew from its pre-industrial roots.

The exhibit is divided into four sections. They cover four different aspects of cultivating crops: planting, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting.  Each section includes two “past” images and two “present” images, contrasting modern farming technology with its older predecessors.

For example, the section about fertilizers juxtaposes a black-and-white photo of a horse-drawn manure spreader with a modern photo of a farmer using a tablet to plan a precision fertilizer application.

The images in each section are partially covered by a sliding info panel. Visitors can move the panel to reveal first the historical images, then the modern ones. Meanwhile, text on the panel explains the advances in that area of agritech.

We originally designed the Farming: Past and Present exhibit as part of Virginia State University’s exhibit trailer. But its message is important for the whole ag industry, not just ag colleges.