We Feed the World has has many supporters and advocates along the way, such as Activist and Academic Vandana Shiva, Eco-Chef Tom Hunt and Riverford’s Guy Watson. Below outlines some of the wonderful things those involved have said about the project.
“Agriculture is the one of the most creative acts that human beings can be engaged in. And the fact that the creativity of the photographers and the creativity of the small farmers has come together in this exhibition makes for a very powerful story.”
Vandana Shiva, Activist and Academic
“Last week London’s Bargehouse Gallery hosted We Feed the World, an international photography exhibition focusing on the smallholder farmers who still produce 70% of the world’s food. I braced myself for patronising peasant-porn, but my prejudices were quickly allayed by the intimacy and truth of the images. They gave a window into a world in which we all have ancestral roots; one that is fast being replaced by large-scale brutality and destruction. It moved me, as art should, to ask questions: of our world, and of Riverford’s part in it.”
Guy Watson, founder of Riverford,
“Thank you so much for the incredible exhibition and programme of activities. It was like having our own Terra Madre Slow Food Conference, but better!”
Tom Hunt, Eco-chef
“Thank you for organising such a great event, it was a great success. I am back to Kenya to continue empowering the small scale farmers and for them to fully understand they have an vital role to play in feeding the world.“
Teresa Gitonga, International Tree Foundation
“As a small-scale farmer it was empowering to see our world and our work represented by such skilled photographers and presented to the public with a strong and considered perspective on the role that we play in feeding the peoples of the world.”
“We particularly appreciated the awareness of the organising team to the reality of farmers and farmers organisations, and their sensitivity to the politics of representing these topics in print for the public.”
Adam Payne, Dorset Farmer and LWA member
“Thank you so much for this wonderful work that we are so excited about. We are happy to inform you that we will be organising a very big rain making ceremony at Shashe. We will use this opportunity to share our photos to many smallholder farmers including our traditional leaders that will attend the ceremony.”
Nelson Mudzingwa, ZIMSOFF, Zimbabwe
“We need to challenge the food industry’s biggest myth: that chemicals, engineered seeds, and animal factory farms are essential to feeding the world. This is the reason why the We Feed the World Campaign is so important”
Anna Lappe, Author
“I read about your exhibition in London in the Saturday Telegraph magazine. It featured a farm in the Scottish Isles. A tear was brought to my eye. I have a small farm in Wales and feel like I am swimming against the tide. I have never liked and have avoided agrochemicals. The media talk only of pollution, of farmers mistreating animals and the environment, we are all lumped in together, no matter our methods or our morals. It was therefore great to hear of your support for small producers who are trying to do their best to look after the Earth whilst running a viable business. Keep up the good work.”
Alex, Wales
“I’ve just been to see the We Feed the World exhibition. It is truly fantastic. I thought I’d pop in for 20 minutes and then head home—an hour and a half later I literally had to tear myself away in order to get home in time to say goodnight to my kids! It’s completely captivating. Much of it made me feel quite joyous, as well as despairing. It partly took me so long because I kept trying to skim over the captions you’d written with each series and then found I couldn’t, I wanted to read the whole thing. They were brilliant. I hope you’re pleased with how it’s gone. Honestly it is one of the most moving exhibitions I’ve ever been to, and my childhood basically consisted of being dragged round one gallery after another, so I’ve seen a fair few!”
Florence Miller, Environmental Funders Network
“It was a beautiful event and it makes us proud as rural women to be part of the We Feed the World project.”
Juanita Villareyna from FEM, Nicaragua
“Thank you so much for creating this awesome event, I’m really proud to be a small part of it as a farmer. You really have brought respect and pride to us as farmers and growers”.
Welsh farmer, Gerald Miles
“We had a small but very worthwhile exhibition at the marae (village hall/community centre for the Maori). We are hoping to have another exhibition in the city at the Community Arts Gallery. I have enjoyed all the Instagram posts from around the globe!”
Marion Thomson, Aunty’s Garden, New Zealand
“It has been quite an experience, really beautiful. In Seville, many people have visited the exhibition and have attended the talks, and the important thing is that we have contributed to this precious project, spreading the principles of sustainability and the dignity of food producers in a sustainable way, this is our contribution to Gaia and it has been a pleasure! Surely the exhibition has been precious all over the world! Thanks Gaia for allowing me to collaborate in this project! I am so happy with the result!”
Aranzazu, RAS (Red Andaluza de Semillas)
“I had the pleasure of attending the seed sovereignty talk this morning and catching up with all the team at Gaia. You have some really wonderful people working alongside you, each were glistening with enthusiasm and inspiration, a credit to both you, your team and the work…the whole event is very impressive, a great feat has been accomplished.”
Robert Reed, the A Team Foundation
“The images and corresponding stories certainly do have impact. Their strength lies in the emphasis on diversity: vast, chemical-intensive monocropping practices are far more delicate than they seem. Climate change is incredibly complex in terms of expected consequences on different regions around the world. Industrial agriculture threatens the resilience of the whole global food system since it argues we should rely on just a few crops and companies to meet all our nutritional needs. Food resilience lies in diversity; diversity of practice and diversity of crops. The 50 farming communities platformed at We Feed the World show the multitude of ways food can be grown such that are not so deeply threatening to the land, water and wildlife upon which we rely and for which we must care.
You leave the exhibition encouraged to tip your hat to the tireless growers each time you buy or eat food. You also leave heartened at the scale of creativity, hard-work and commitment of a global movement against industrial agriculture. In the same week as the publishing of the IPCC report, stories of positive change are needed. Disaster-narratives will get us only so far. Stories of other ways of living and producing food which are kinder to land and the animals on it as well as healthier to us are a needed, hopeful tonic to avoid despair-induced apathy.”
Review from Arc2020
“Well done all! Fabulously curated conceived, and executed…bravo!”
David Chancellor, Photographer
“Thank you everyone and especially Georgie for all the help with making Sunday not only possible, heavy bags and all, but helping to ensure all who could participate did and did so comfortably. We were well taken of! I am glad to hear the exhibition went so well for GF and look forward to working with you again in the future”
Mama D Ujuaje, Community Centred Knowledge
“The weather during the exhibition in our garden and in my friend´s Eli´s courtyard was not so nice – rain showers during the day so I didn ´t expect many visitors to come. Surprisingly around 50 people came that Saturday afternoon, we celebrated the event with nice home made food and herbal teas. We tried to spread the message further. Next week the local press will release an artcicle about the event and its message…I am planning to do an official opening with possibility of seedswap or buying home collected seeds and home made food.
Also two primary schools are interested in showing the photographs to children. I translated all the stories from English to Slovak and for the Hungarian minority I have to translate it into Hungarian. I was happy that many kids came to the exhibition and it was great fun with them. I like the idea to make gardening attractive to children without an extra effort. I think it is enough to let them move and play freely in the garden, to experience nature.”
Zuzana Pastorková, Slovakian Farmer
“A HUGE well done. It was a fantastic event and it clearly had a lot of hard work go into it.”
Amelia Christie-Miller, Foodchain
“I thought the exhibition was great and some wonderful speeches on the opening night. It was great to see pictured a cross-section of farmers from all over the world, passing the message on about the hard work and the quality of food that they produce.”
David Jones, Woodlands Farm Trust
“It was great to be involved in such an inspiring event.”
Olivia Nelson, Organic Research Centre