There's a lot more than cattle and crops thriving in the fields of Greene County. Experimental sounds are being invented and transmitted at Wave Farm, an artistic outpost near the village of Acra, about 13 miles northwest of Catskill.

Deep into the 30-acre tract of land, you'll find a tall wooden pole with some gadgets near the top. This is "Weather Warlock" by the artist known as Quintron. It uses an analog synthesizer to generate sounds triggered by changes in sunlight, wind, precipitation, and temperature.

A short distance away and floating in a small body of water is Zack Poff's "Pond Station," an audio pickup connected to a small solar panel that broadcasts underwater sounds every day from dawn to dusk. There's also Japanther's "Remote Audio Outpost," a triangular hut that contains a primitive recording studio connected to an analog phone line. It's billed as "a place for introspection and confession."

Each of these fusions of sculpture, sound and technology falls under the rubric of "transmission arts," which is the focus of Wave Farm, a nonprofit organization that was established here in 2004. Every year, from summer into early fall, resident artists come to Wave Farm to create new works that focus on transmitting or receiving data, including sounds or images. Many of the works are exhibited on the land, while others are realized in performance or come to life in other media.

Wave Farm is also active in a more traditional method of transmission – it runs a radio station. WGXC (90.7-FM) went on the air in February 2011. The 3,300-watt signal reaches much of Greene and Columbia counties and southern portions of the Capital Region.

The WGXC schedule is community-generated. A team of 80 volunteer programmers broadcast their shows out of the two WGXC studios, located in downtown Hudson and at the Wave Farm offices in Acra. The lineup also includes two daily broadcasts of the news show "Democracy Now" along with other offerings from Pacifica Radio, a national network. During the fall election season, candidates for local offices were regularly featured. Wave Farm's visiting artists are also given airtime.

The organization's website (WaveFarm.org) features a number of audio feeds starting with WGXC. There's also Wave Farm's Standing Wave Radio, a 24-hour online-only stream of new music and experimental sounds. Finally, with a simple click, curious listeners can check out what's currently happening with the "Weather Warlock" and the "Pond Station."

"With the media consolidation of recent years, most of what's on the air is cookie-cutter talk radio and music driven by national playlists rather than local interests," says Galen Joseph Hunter, Wave Farm's executive director. "We're a lone voice making the kind of airtime we do for artistic content."

In addition to its residency program and radio station, Wave Farm also administers a media arts assistance fund, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts. Grants are offered annually for New York-based organizations and artists working in media arts. The next deadline for artist grants is Jan. 15. For Wave Farm's artist residency program, the deadline is Feb. 1. In most years, around 100 applications are received for 10 residency spots.

Dreaming up new sounds and new methods of sound production is an age-old practice. And there's certainly no shortage of composers and sound artists on the scene today. What distinguishes transmission arts and radio art from all the rest is the purposeful integration of the electronic means of delivery.

"The artist is thinking about listeners from the get-go, people in their car or some other personal environment, not a concert hall or a gallery space," explains Joseph-Hunter. "It is often DIY (do it yourself). Our artists are often creating their own transmission and receiving devices."

As for the larger universe of transmission arts, Wave Farm has made concerted efforts to catalogue and compile information on artists working in the field. The facility in Acra has an extensive library of books, periodicals and other media that are available to researchers. In 2011 the organization issued "Transmission Arts: Artists & Airwaves," a book that contains a comprehensive history of the field with citations of 150 artists. The earliest entry is a 1921 manifesto by the Russian futurist Velimir Khlebnikov titled "The Radio of the Future."

Heidi Neilson might be considered one of Khlebnikov's artistic heirs. She's a New York City resident who describes herself as a multidisciplinary artist. But her vision is literally cosmic. "I'm interested lately in how orbital spaces are contiguous with landscapes," she says.

One of her creations is a satellite dish mounted in the middle of a four-sided bench that resembles a pagoda. It's one of the half dozen permanent installations at Wave Farm. Visitors to the intimate space can listen to or download data from the Outernet, a cousin of the Internet that's transmitted from satellites.

Another Neilson project is "Sonic Planetarium" currently installed at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, in an exhibition sponsored by Wave Farm. Seven large tuned metal cylinders hang from the ceiling of the university library. They sound when triggered by passing satellites. In Neilson's latest, coming in the summer at Wave Farm, you'll be able to look into a viewer and see the entirety of planet Earth as seen from a satellite. "Like a giant selfie," says the artist.

Neilson says that most other institutions in the U.S. that are concerned with transmission arts are tied to universities. "Wave Farm is independent and free to think expansively about the field without needing to adhere to curriculum," she says.

Wave Farm is open year round by appointment. The five employees love to hear from listeners. Complaints about weird sounds are surprisingly rare. "Most of the time it's from a place of delight," says Hunter, who recalls talking with the daughter of a man who was incarcerated and who was grateful to have discovered WGXC. "He stumbled on it late at night and he was amazed at what he was hearing, sounds he's never heard before."

Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy.