Visitors to the Smithsonian Institution鈥檚 National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. only get small glimpses of farming, such as a mural display of immigrant farmworkers planting crops in a 19th century California town.

The museum once had an Agriculture Hall, but it was removed in 2006.

鈥淚t was a little tatty, a little worn out. The interpretation wasn鈥檛 the greatest. And for the nation鈥檚 museum, we really ought to do better,鈥� said curator Peter Liebhold, who is chair of the museum鈥檚 Division of Work and Industry. 鈥淎 group of farmers from Illinois came to us and they pointed out the fact that there was no Ag Hall and they thought that mistake should be rectified.鈥�

The Smithsonian agreed and is now working on an 8,000-square-foot 鈥溾€� exhibition that will explore agriculture鈥檚 connection to finance, science and retail. Liebhold hopes the permanent exhibition, which will be devoted to the history of commerce and will open in 2015, will bring some much-needed love to farming, especially since .

鈥淎 lot of people live in cities and their sense of food is going to the refrigerator or to a restaurant,鈥� Liebhold said. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e interested. I think there鈥檚 a great desire to learn.鈥�

Though Liebhold doesn鈥檛 have farm roots himself, he鈥檚 been traveling across the country to spend time with farmers and ranchers in their barns and tractor cabs. In one of the museum鈥檚 back rooms, he enthusiastically shows me an artifact he picked up on his travels: a battered 鈥淣o-Till Saves Soil鈥� sign from the '80s.

鈥淭his is why you never want to invite a curator onto your property,鈥� Liebhold said. 鈥滻 was out in Illinois and Jim Rapp -- a big corn and bean farmer -- was showing me around. We went into his machine shed and there ... was this sign. You can see it鈥檚 clearly been up forever. And 鈥楴o-Till鈥� is a really important concept.鈥�

Besides highlighting innovations in farming through artifacts in the upcoming exhibition, Liebhold is also hoping farmers will share their passion for agriculture and food production by submitting their stories, photos and ephemera online. The museum鈥檚 already gotten 100 submissions since it started the  in March.

鈥淔or us this is a grand experiment. We鈥檙e not sure if it鈥檚 really going to work. It鈥檚 outside of our comfort zone, but it鈥檚 something that we should do,鈥� he said.

The Smithsonian may be the best-known museum trying to put a fresh spin on farming. But it鈥檚 not the only one.

The , in Bonner Springs, Kan., has way more than 8,000 square feet devoted to farming. Its sprawling grounds even include a recreated 1919 farm town and interactive exhibits on modern hog farming, beekeeping and how E-85 ethanol is made from corn.

Lifting the curtain back on food production and creating exhibitions with families in mind seems to be working, according to the National Ag Hall of Fame鈥檚 executive director Cathi Hahner.

鈥淥ur visitation has been going up over the last couple of years and that,鈥� Hahner said. 鈥淥ur event attendance has significantly increased.鈥�

She is also hopeful of a side benefit in the Smithsonian鈥檚 exhibit.

鈥淥bviously the Smithsonian is the mother of all museums and that. And so the fact that they are starting to talk about agriculture and that will start bringing people's awareness,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd they might then, as they visit other places and that, think ag museums might not be boring -- that they are science and technology as well as history.鈥�

Besides museums like the Smithsonian showing interest in agriculture, she added that the Peterson brothers鈥� video parodies about farming were also making agriculture cool.

鈥淲hat they've done with their parodies has really brought some excitement to agriculture and thinking about the young farmer a little differently today鈥︹€� she said. 鈥淲e hope to get them here sometime.鈥�

Watch the latest video from the Peterson brothers, "From the Land of Kansas," which is set to the disco hit "Y.M.C.A." below.

http://youtu.be/MJPHoC_OMJQ