--- title: Five Best Ideas: We Need 'Open Source' Crops description: We need ‘open source’ crops, how to fix math education in the U.S. and more. canonical: https://time.com/4628569/we-need-open-source-crops/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-09T17:00:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:11.924Z article:section: Ideas og:title: We Need 'Open Source' Crops og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4628569/we-need-open-source-crops/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: We Need 'Open Source' Crops twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # We Need 'Open Source' Crops by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 9, 2017 5:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 9, 2017 5:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**We need ‘open source’ crops. Find out why.**](https://ensia.com/features/open-source-seeds/) By Rachel Cernansky in Ensia **2\.** [**Here’s how to fix math education in the U.S.**](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-math-education-in-the-u-s-doesn-t-add-up/) By Jo Boaler and Pablo Zoido in _Scientific American_ **3\.** [**Can media literacy help us fight fake news, or has it already backfired?**](https://points.datasociety.net/did-media-literacy-backfire-7418c084d88d#.eelk95alx) By Danah Boyd in Points **4\.** [**There’s a better way to do arts philanthropy.**](https://ssir.org/articles/entry/its%5Ftime%5Fto%5Fbreak%5Farts%5Fphilanthropy%5Fout%5Fof%5Fits%5Fsilo) By Ian David Moss in the _Stanford Social Innovation Review_ **5\.** [**An enlightened society can do better than solitary confinement.**](http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2016/1220/Finding-alternatives-to-solitary-confinement) By the editorial board of the _Christian Science Monitor_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4628569/we-need-open-source-crops/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4628569/we-need-open-source-crops/"},"headline":"We Need 'Open Source' Crops","datePublished":"2017-01-09T17:00:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:11.924Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4628569/we-need-open-source-crops/","keywords":["Innovation","Education","News","Prison","philanthropy"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4628569/we-need-open-source-crops/","name":"We Need 'Open Source' Crops"}}]}] ```