Illinois Agricultural Landscapes From Above – No. 63
Image by myoldpostcards
A golden hour view of grassed waterways and tractor paths on fields ready for the autumn harvest. As seen in this view, the visual impression of Illinois’ agricultural landscapes is one of expansive openness, where the sky meets the earth in an unbroken line, punctuated only by the occasional farmhouse, silo, or grove of trees along waterways.
It is a landscape dominated by monoculture crops, primarily corn and soybeans, which stretch across the horizon in neat, orderly rows, often intersected by tractor paths and grassed waterways, as are prominent in this photo. The area is predominantly flat with gently rolling hills, and the soil is exceptionally rich, thanks to thousands of years of organic matter accumulation from deep-rooted prairie plants. This has made Illinois one of the most productive agricultural states in the United States.
