A Visit to a Soybean Field

The "official State of Mississippi website" — ms.gov — lists agriculture as Mississippi's number one industry, with soybeans and cotton ranking #3 and #4, respectively, on the top ten list of agricultural crops (after #1 Poultry/Eggs, and #2 Forestry). According to the records of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mississippi had 460,000 acres planted in cotton this year, which should produce near-record yields, and the USDA estimated the state’s 2.1 million acres of soybeans is also on track to break the state yield record. A couple of weeks ago, I visited a few of those acres planted in cotton near Vicksburg, and captured over two hundred pictures of the fields and cotton bolls. I featured a few of those pictures in a post called "A Cotton Patch Adventure," and if you haven't read it, I invite you to click on the link and read that post before you read this one. Today, I am sharing some pictures of the soybean fields I passed while on my search for "a perfect cotton patch." Although less picturesque than our "Mississippi snow," I found the soybeans to be quite interesting. As I said, not as pretty as a cotton field ... But let's take a closer look ... I can usually find beauty in just about everything I photograph (except, perhaps, the earthworms and snakes!), and I think the soybean pods have a beauty all their own, especially when looked at individually ... I wanted to see what the actual beans look like, and didn't think the farmer would mind if I broke off a stalk to take home. And surprise, surprise ... here is what I found inside ... Beans!