Farming Family Makes High-Tech Crop Circles

Operated by the Kraay family, the Kraay Family Farm is a farm and rural amusement park in Alberta, Canada, that every year runs a mix of outdoorsy events, including a corn maze, pig races and a display of cute little farm animals for people to gawk at. The Kraays have a history of shaping their corn mazes into complicated and interesting patterns, like a map of Canada, but this year they tried something new. They turned their corn maze into a massive, fully functional, 309,570 square foot QR code.

When you scan the photo with a cell phone application that can read QR codes—or pilot an airplane overhead and do the same—you’ll be redirected to the farm’s website. The Verge reports that the family recently won the Guinness World Record for the largest QR code.

Despite this impressive agricultural showing, many are still reserved about the utility of QR codes. The square tool links recently topped BuzzFeed’s list of technology that should probably just go away.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Crop Circles: The Art of the Hoax

Colin Schultz | | READ MORE

Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A. in journalism.