We Feed The World

A new photography series celebrates the inspiring stories of independent eco-farmers across the globe working towards a cleaner and more sustainable future

- Maria Coole

Do you know where your food comes from? (Apart from your local Tesco Metro.) Do any of us truly understand the environmental consequences of what we eat and drink? The rise of global agribusiness makes for a terrifying shopping list of potential crises – climate disruption, mass extinction, loss of biodiversity, pollution of oceans and waterways, and the diminishing health of communities.

We Feed The World, an archive of more than 300 images, is the brainchild of journalist Francesca Price. Working with curator Cheryl Newman and environmental charity The Gaia Foundation, Price brought 47 photographers, including Rankin, Martin Parr and Pieter Hugo, together to document the lives of 50 farming communities across six continents. ‘These photographs celebrate the work of small family farmers as well as highlighting the challenges they face,’ she says.

Price was inspired by evidence from the UN that 70 per cent of the world’s food is produced by smallholders, making them stewards of threequarters of the globe’s seed biodiversity. Frustrated by the misconception that industrial-scale agriculture is needed to feed a growing world population, she felt it was time for a rebranding of who really feeds us and a debunking of the industry’s biggest myths: that we need chemicals, engineered seeds and factory farms to do it.

‘By putting the spotlight on diverse cultures and landscapes, we counter the image of the poor, struggling farmer with a truer picture that celebrates knowledge, resilience and success. This is an incredible archive of family farming in the 21st century,’ she says.