BERKSHIRE FARMS

I’ve been photographing farms and farmers in the Berkshires since moving here nearly a decade ago. I started this project because I believed that food and where it comes from and how it’s made is one the most urgent, universally important issues our world faces today. And the more time I’ve spent on this work, the more I have come to believe that we really are also in serious trouble: Issues of personal health and global hunger, the instability of an oil-dependant economy, terrorism and increasing agricultural trade surpluses, the lack of knowledge around genetic engineering, the loss of traditional knowledge and regional varieties in our crops, the ethical treatment of animals and the impact on our environment…are all part of the dynamic we participate in each and every day, every time we eat.

Proponents of industrial agriculture will insist we are too far-gone and must buy into technological solutions. But in a growing number of communities around the world farmers on small, independently owned, and community focused farms are helping local economies grow and sustainable agriculture take hold. They represent real alternatives and I photograph them to help raise and inform the critical conversations we need to be having about where our food comes from and the health, sustainability, and vitality of that system.

While this is still first and foremost a personal project, the end goals include informative exhibitions and presentations using artistic photography in an activist context. To this end, I have had exhibitions at Yale University, Ferrin Gallery, Spike Gallery NYC, and a number of other locations, I have given presentations for many related organizations, and my images have also been published in hundreds of stories in magazines and on websites around the world, including The New York Times Magazine, Gastronomica, Time Magazine, Orion, The Wall Street Journal, GEO, New York Magazine, TheMeatrix.com, NewFarm.org, The Organic Gardener, YES! Magazine, Berkshire Living, Small Farm Quarterly, Out Here, Waterkeeper, Plenty, Mother Earth News, and many others. I also frequently volunteer my images for use to many related non-profit and community organizations as well as to the farms I photograph.

I have recently posted a large and searchable archive of over 8,000 images from this project on local and sustainable food and agriculture. Please click here to view this archive (includes images from sample gallery below).