TEN TALES OF TRANSFORMATION
WE FEED THE UK
In 2024, We Feed The UK emerged from We Feed The World as an opportunity to dig deeper.
Readjusting to the hyperlocal scale, we paired ten regionally-based photographers and poets with some of the UK’s best custodians of soil and sea to disrupt the dominant narrative across these isles.
Our aim was not only to inspire producers and consumers with radical but deep-rooted stories of food; by connecting, nourishing, and illuminating these grassroots pioneers, we hoped to cultivate the conditions for widespread transformation here in the UK.
“71% of the UK is farmland. The potential for this to become the place where we support biodiversity, sequester carbon and address so many of the other problems we are facing is enormous.”
Co-Director of The Gaia Foundation, Rowan Phillimore
The campaign kicked off with ten time-critical stories, told in succession online and in galleries across the UK, culminating in a 12-week showcase of the complete collection at The Royal Photographic Society in spring 2025.
The exhibition is now touring regionally, webbing up food producers, community groups, arts institutions, libraries, and creatives for a grassroots revolution.
AS SEEN IN RESURGENCE & ECOLOGIST
“We Feed The UK is a monumental undertaking – with a clever premise – whereby ten poets and ten award-winning photographers have been commissioned to tell ten stories of ‘hope’ in an otherwise battered and bruised food-producing landscape: one damaged by Brexit, climate chaos, the cost of living crisis and heart-breaking biodiversity loss”
LAUNCHED APRIL 2025
FISHING: IN WATERS OFF CORNWALL AND THE SCILLY ISLES
Inspired by fishers along the southwest coast
Poetry by Chris Redmond | Photography by Jon Tonks | Exhibited at Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol
LAUNCHED APRIL 2025
GRAIN REBELS: A FOOD REVOLUTION STARTS WITH SEED
Inspired by Gothelney Farm and Field Bakery in Somerset
Poetry by Dizraeli | Photography by Lúa Ribeira | Exhibited at The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol
LAUNCHED FEBRUARY 2025
FIBRE: NATURE-FRIENDLY FLAX FARMING
Inspired by Mallon Farm in Northern Ireland
Poetry by Abby Oliveira | Photography by Yvette Monahan | Exhibited at Belfast Exposed in Northern Ireland
LAUNCHED NOVEMBER 2024
UNEARTHED: SOIL RESTORATION IN NORTHUMBERLAND
Inspired by Wharmley Farm in Northumberland
Poetry by Kate Fox | Photography by Johannah Churchill | Exhibited with North East Photography Network at The Sill in Northumberland
LAUNCHED SEPTEMBER 2024
FOOD JUSTICE: SERVED FRESH FROM URBAN FARMS
Inspired by Go Grow With Love and Black Rootz in London
Poetry by Zena Edwards | Photography by Arpita Shah | Exhibited with Photo Fringe at ONCA Gallery in Brighton and across Buildhollywood billboards in North London
LAUNCHED SEPTEMBER 2024
FROM CRISIS TO KINSHIP: HEALING PEOPLE AND PLACE
Inspired by Fordhall Organic Farm in Shropshire
Poetry by Jasmine Gardosi | Photography by Aaron Schuman | Published with GRAIN Projects as an immersive book
LAUNCHED JUNE 2024
CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND: INTERGENERATIONAL RESTORATION
Inspired by The Penpont Project in Wales
Poetry by Ifor Ap Glyn | Photography by Andy Pilsbury | Exhibited at Penpont Estate in Wales
LAUNCHED MAY 2024
NO DIGGITY: COOLING OUR CLIMATE
Inspired by No Diggity Gardens in the West Midlands
Poetry by Bohdan Piasecki | Photography by Ayesha Jones | Exhibited with Multistory in Walsall
LAUNCHED APRIL 2024
CULTIVATING EQUALITY: WOMEN WORKING WITH LAND
Inspired by Grampian Graziers and Lauriston Farm in Scotland
Poetry by Iona Lee | Photography by Sophie Gerrard | Exhibited at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow
LAUNCHED FEBRUARY 2025
AGRI-CULTURE: A LINEAGE OF HEDGEROW LIGGING
Inspired by Strickley Farm in Cumbria
Poetry by Testament | Photography by Johannes Pretorius | Exhibited at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool
Feeling Inspired?
Find your role in the movement with our guide to supporting these wonderful these custodians of sea, soil and seed.
ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING COMING UP:
ONGOING
POP-UP PORTRAITS: CHANGING THE FACE OF REGENERATIVE FARMING
Inspired by the deep-rooted, radical-minded folk behind the regenerative farming movement
Photography by Louis Little | A low-cost, high-joy environmental storytelling exhibition travelling festivals, fields and farms. Get in touch if you’re interested in stringing this up in your own space!
THROUGHOUT 2026
THE COMPLETE COLLECTION: CELEBRATING OUR CUSTODIANS OF SOIL AND SEA
The now-unified body of work signifies a new phase of We Feed The UK, catalysing revolutionary collaborations in every region of the UK.
Photography by Johannes Pretorius, Sophie Gerrard, Ayesha Jones, Andy Pilsbury, Aaron Schuman, Arpita Shah, Johannah Churchill, Yvette Monahan, Jon Tonks, Lúa Ribeira
Poetry by Testament, Iona Lee, Bohdan Piasecki, Ifor ap Glyn, Jasmine Gardosi, Zena Edwards, Kate Fox, Abby Oliveira, Chris Redmond, Dizraeli
Featured on BBC Radio 4 – The Food Programme
“It’s important to remember that we are making the culture and culture makes mindsets. We can inspire this change that needs to happen.” Hot Poet, Dizraeli, speaking to the BBC Food Programme
Jimi Famurewa, host of BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme, visits three producers and poets taking part in We Feed The UK, to ask whether poetry can convince us to care about our food…
40 COLLABORATORS PROGRESSING REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Ten acclaimed photographers nurtured close relationships with their subjects, shooting throughout the seasons. Their work, exhibited online and nationwide with ten arts partners, ranges from experiments with bread by Magnum’s Lúa Ribeira, to a 12-month study on sustainable fishing by photographer Jon Tonks.
Spoken word artists, from award-winning organisation Hot Poets, have crafted a collection of ten poems in a diversity of regional dialects. This includes a celebration of hedgerows by beatboxing champion Testament, grain rebels by legendary poet-singer Dizraeli, and the soil by BBC Radio 4’s Kate Fox.
These rich collaborations between photographers and poets were shared in partnership with ten arts organisations between February 2024 and June 2025, accompanied by evidence from ten environmental allies leading the regenerative agriculture movement.
The complete collection of photography and poetry from we feed the UK
Image courtesy of Papadakis Publisher
“This book treats us all to a glimpse through the lens of a movement for change that is gathering pace … there is hope here.” Dan Saladino
“We need more hope. And we need stories like this to know that things are possible.” Jasmine Gardosi
“Part photo book, part poetry anthology, part gentle, multi-vocal manifesto, We Feed The UK energetically sets about the task of reconnecting us with where our food comes from.” Hannibal Rhoades