A global photographic initiative coordinated by The Gaia Foundation.
We Feed the World is an invitation to reflect on the food we eat, where it comes from, who grew it and how we are connected. It encourages us to support a more just food system that nourishes us and the Earth; a food system led and controlled by small-scale fishers and farmers using agro-ecological techniques, not by corporations chasing profit at all costs.
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We are often told by corporations, governments and the media that without a high-tech, chemically intensive industrial food system, we would soon starve. Featuring 50 communities and the work of world-renowned photographers such as Rankin, Martin Parr and Graciela Iturbide, We Feed the World is a photographic initiative that cuts through this misinformation to creatively tell the stories of the farmers and fishers who really feed the world.
From the icy waters of Northern Sweden to the humid depths of the Amazon rainforest, We Feed the World explores the triumphs of small-scale farmers and fisher-people who feed themselves and others whilst caring for Nature. Small-scale farmers and fisher-people produce over 70% of the food we eat globally, they do this on less than a quarter of the world’s farmland, using regenerative techniques that protect bio-cultural diversity and help reverse the effects of climate change. The practices and knowledge held by these farmers and fisher-people also offer us solutions to many of the crises we currently face; from the mass extinction of species, the pollution and depletion of our soils, waterways and oceans, to the diminishing health and wellbeing of our communities. We Feed the World brings this to light in the face of the challenges they face today – from land-grabbing to deforestation – calling for global support in small-scale, agro-ecological food systems.
In collaboration with the farmers, fishers, photographers and NGO’s, the food sovereignty movement and ethical businesses, The Gaia Foundation exhibited We Feed the World in London and each of the 50 communities, taking the world by storm. To ensure the legacy of these stories and images continue to foster support for food and social justice, a We Feed the World book is soon to be published. Follow us on twitter or Instagram to keep up to date with when it is released.
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We are living in unprecedented times. The decisions we make now about the food we eat and how we produce it will have far reaching consequences for all life on Earth.
We are working with each community to help share the resilient stories of farmers from around the world, and to use these images and stories to advocate for for lasting and meaningful change in their locality. You can help us to keep our work with these communities going by donating to We Feed the World here. If you wish to host an exhibition or feel these stories and images could accompany your work, please contact rowan@gaianet.org. Click here to see a gallery of selected images, or for further images and the stories from each of the individual shoots, click here.
Sa Torre de’s Xebelins, Ibiza. Laura Hynd
This is about people, not production lines; farms not factories; agri-culture, not agri-business. This is about a fair and just farming system that regenerates and nourishes the Earth and all who live on her.
In the end, our greatest responsibility is to our children and the future generations of all species on Earth.
What people are saying about us
“We Feed the World is an amazing opportunity for everyone in this country to engage with a healthier, more climate-friendly and more democratic food system. We have to speak out against the giant monopolies and government policies that are currently trying to dominate the food that we eat.”
- Vivienne Westwood, Fashion Designer
