We Feed The World – Aunty’s Garden
Celebrating small-scale farmers and the land that feeds us.
On the East coast of New Zealand’s North Island is a small town called Waipatu. It was once a thriving place with families and gardens, steeped in ancestral heritage.
Today, many of the families have moved away to find work in the cities. However, thanks to Arohanui Lawrence, also known locally as Aunty, the gardens of the local Marae have once again become a food growing hub where locals can come and take away fresh produce grown in the organically shaped vegetable garden that are lovingly tended by Aunty and her team of volunteers. While the vegetables provide much needed nutrition for the local Maori population, it is the community aspect of growing that Aunty cherishes most. The highlight of the year is when the family return home to help harvest the kumara – a white flesh sweet potato – and grandchildren and great-grandchildren work alongside their elders carrying on a tradition that is over 800 years old.
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.
We Feed The World – The Exhibition.
This work was exhibited alongside the work of 40 other photographers at The Bargehouse Gallery, South Bank, London, 12-21 October 2018. Curated by Cheryl Newman, which reached over 50 million people worldwide.
We Feed The World – The Book.
We Feed The World, Published by Little Toller Books, UK in November 2020, follows on from the 2018 We Feed The World exhibition. Find out more and get your copy: Here
