Behind the Seeds – part 1 complete

Last month I was in the westcountry for the first phase of Behind the Seeds photo project. Staying in Devon for 2 weeks, I visited some small and medium scale organic farms to see how independent producers are making it work in the UK. This is the first phase of a larger project all about the issues of food security and food sovereignty, an issue that needs a lot more attention in the media and from the public, something that affects us all and is only going to get more important as time progresses.

Strawberry picking at Riverford

During the fortnight there I managed to gain access 6 different sites, looking at a variety of food production and techniques. The organic veg box people at Riverford were the largest producer visited, and they were very accommodating thanks to Rachel Lovell, I now get one of their boxes every week. I visited Permaculture projects Embercombe (also a WWOOF site) and the Agroforestry Research Trust. Also on the agenda was Higher Hacknell which is an organic take on a traditional arable and livestock farm (thanks Jo), natural farmhouse cider courtesy of Hunts, and as featured in a previous post, the revolutionary Verticrop at Paignton Zoo.

During the project I was living in my campervan, in the evening editing the photos by candlelight and getting online with the new found wonders (to me) of my smart phone, it’s amazing what technology is possible of these days! So although I may not have been able to have a shave for a couple of weeks, I was still up to date and connected. The Canon 5D performed fantastically throughout the project, the battery life being particularly impressive.  I was recording audio during most of these shoots, both for informative notes and to put together a multimedia piece in the future. This phase of the series is now edited and will be published on here at regular intervals. I’m also sending it out to various magazines in the UK and Germany for potential publication, both as sections and later as a whole piece. This stage of the project will form a pitch to push things forward and try and get access to larger scale agricultural sites, intensive dairy and meat farms and industrial food processing factories, when they agree to grant access.

Embercombe Chicken hutch

Higher Hacknell

Hunts Cider

Verticrop at Paignton Zoo