Ain't It Beautiful

by Monty Harper

The fertile Oklahoma plain
Planted with a single strain
A blanket spun from golden grain
A trillion stalks of wheat
On every stalk a perfect head
The kernels keep the combines fed
Then off to manufacture bread
So everyone can eat
Ain't it beautiful; Ain't it clever
Ain't it just about the best news ever
A farmer feeds a nation's needs
When man and nature work together

About a half a world away
An Afghan farmer starts his day
He swings a scythe to cut his hay
He threshes it by hand
He grows a mix of wheat out here
And when the weather turns austere
A strain or two may persevere
Enough to meet demand
Ain't it beautiful; Ain't it clever
Ain't it just about the best news ever
A farmer feeds a family's needs
When man and nature work together

Back in Oklahoma, disaster in the fields
Farmers ponder pesticides while Russian aphids cut their yeilds
But scientists have a weapon to help us beat this pest
The USDA wheat gene bank has more than fifty thousand strains to test

And they find resistance built right in
To a plant from our Afghan farmer friend
They cross it with our own and spin
A strain that can't be beat
And so the Oklahoma plain
Ripples proudly once again
A blanket spun from golden grain
A trillion stalks of wheat
Ain't it beautiful; Ain't it clever
Ain't it just about the best news ever
How science feeds our global needs
When man and nature work together