“Today, people are beginning to question what’s done
to our food for a longer shelf life. ‘You are what you eat’
TRJ Your grandparents’ dedication to the land feels deeply connected to today’s movement toward regenerative agriculture. What parallels do you see between their commitment and this growing shift? AA At that time, being sustainable was just a natural farming process — and synonymous with having good morals. Profit wasn’t the only motivation; the quality of the food was, too. They were humane and sustainable farmers without knowing what that meant,
will always hold true.”
and it hadn’t been jeopardized yet by big corporations or technology. Today, people are beginning to question what’s done to our food for a longer shelf life. “You are what you eat” will always hold true. We don’t want to eat preservatives. We want to eat food that benefits us.
TRJ How do you hope “The Onion Fields” influences the conversation around farming and sustainable food systems? AA We hope it encourages younger generations unfamiliar with farming to learn where their food comes from. There’s a lot of food at big chain grocery stores that we personally don’t support. Get to know what you want to support and what you don’t, because it matters. We grew up being told, “It doesn’t matter how much people don’t buy or eat something; it won’t change how much of it is produced.” But that couldn’t be further from the truth when we look at worldwide numbers.
TRJ These days, so many people feel disconnected from how food is produced. What role do you think storytelling — like your project — can play in bridging that gap? AA There’s a trend in American society of not knowing what you don’t want to know — ignorance is bliss. Our documentation focuses more on family history than food production, but it can motivate people to care more about the past. Technology might extend our life expectancy, but principles and knowledge improve quality of life. The gap between food systems and people won’t close until quality supersedes quantity in every industry, until we can become a meatless society. Regenerative farming is our future.
TOP: “ORLAND, CA” BOTTOM: “AWARENESS”
“NEWBORNS”
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ISSUE 02
THE ONION FIELDS
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