Lines of Communication

In recent years, the relationship between commercial farmers and the general public
has become increasingly significant as the consumer has become more concerned
about where and how the food they buy is produced, and in the rural environment.
The farming industry, those who sell food and represent farmers, as well as farmers
themselves, have sought to find effective means of relaying messages to the general
public. In this essay I highlight particularly imaginative uses of images and
communication of ideas and contrast different forms of communication between
farmers and the public, including that of Art.

NFU ‘Why Farming Matters Poster’, courtesy NFU

Adverts and marketing use visual messages to sell products. The idea of the farm
has become important to supermarkets and others selling food, and photographs of
farmers have been commonly printed onto labels as well as information about farms
on marketing material. The adverts of burger chain McDonalds this year (2008), also
referred back to farming in the use of images of the landscape, and the message

First published online in March 2009 by FACE and

Page |1
supported by Arts Council England.
Text © Georgina Barney, Images as credited.
spelt out using hay bales, “EVERY LAST DROP OF OUR MILK COMES FROM
BRITISH FARMS”.

Campaigns relating to the farming industry, such as Why Farming Matters developed
and managed by the NFU, seek to engage the public’s interest and encourage
concern with British farming. Posters showing images of the British flag made out of
farmland, for example, use visual images to associate ideas about nationality and the
countryside, with British farming.

The media is a key means by which public perceptions of farming are formed, often
using simplified ideas. Photographs of journalists such as Alex James, Rosie
Boycott and Jane Wheatley (Saturday Times magazine) who write about their own
farms show the writers in clichéd tweed caps and Wellington boots. Stories of their
exploits play on the idea of a harsh divide between town and country, whilst making
farming strange, even exotic.

On television, message are often moral and political, like those of the Victorian
Pastoral, identified in a previous essay. Celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have challenged unappealing farming processes, in
crusades to re-educate the general public. Jimmy Doherty’s Farming Heroes (2008)
was a celebration of the successes and achievements of British farming.

Northfield Farm logo, courtesy Northfield Farm

Farmers themselves communicate about farming, particularly in the marketing and

sale of produce. At farmers’ markets, for example, ideas about the farm are relayed
in images and information about the farm as well as the conversation and presence
of the farmer or farm representative. Many marketing schemes aim to reconnect the
consumer with the producer, and even the farm itself. In the imaginative ‘adopt a pig’
scheme of Yorkshire Meats, the consumer is able to follow the growth and life of their
pig before delivery and consumption.

First published online in March 2009 by FACE and

Page |2
supported by Arts Council England.
Text © Georgina Barney, Images as credited.
In farm businesses such as Northfield Farm (supplying fashionable London markets,
parties and food festivals), The Black Farmer (supplying Sainsburies) and farm
franchise The Store (Edinburgh and Aberdeen), the farm itself becomes an idea, and
its appeal used to market produce which can extend beyond that of the original farm.

Our Daily Bread, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2005, www.ourdailybread.at

Artists communicate for communication’s own sake, and can make connections
between farmers and the public in different ways. In Farming Families documentary
filmmaker Barbara Santi enabled three Cornish farming families to record their own
lives and activities. The artist gave a new voice to the farming families, and provided
viewers with a window into their world. The documentary film Our Daily Bread,
examined in more detail in the Art, Farming Ethics essay, provides the viewer of the
film with visual access to usually hidden processes and places of industrial farming.
Likewise, The Lie of the Land, a film made by Mollie Dineen, followed the flesh run of
hunting and engaged with issues in the countryside. Shown on Channel 4, it
exposed the problems of farmers and contradictory British attitudes towards food
production, animals and the countryside.

First published online in March 2009 by FACE and

Page |3
supported by Arts Council England.
Text © Georgina Barney, Images as credited.
Farm Entrance, John Darwell, 2001

In the Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001 farming dramatically came to the attention of the
British public. Harrowing images of animal funeral pyres and accompanying articles
in newspapers relayed the devastating experiences of farmers. The crisis also
sparked a wave of subtler, socially engaged projects, such as the photographs of
John Darwell. Images of closed gates and disinfection mats hint at the wider impact
of the crisis to farming people and the countryside.

Following Foot and Mouth, a number of rural arts organizations and farms such as
Aune Head Arts and Woodlands Farm in Lincolnshire have initiated residencies on
farms, placing artists ‘behind the scenes’. As they produce artwork, public
exhibitions and books, exploring their experiences, they provide a way in which
viewers can enter into thoughtful discussions about the reality of farming today.

First published online in March 2009 by FACE and

Page |4
supported by Arts Council England.
Text © Georgina Barney, Images as credited.
Packers, Rosie Redzia, 2007

As there are diverse ideas and attitudes about farming, as well as a range of
interests in its public representation, so farmers, those who represent or have
interests in farming, have used a range of methods of communication. Choices
about how and what to communicate involve the creative skills of artists. Meanwhile,
alongside marketing, advertising and journalism, the interests and means of
professional artists and arts organizations provide other ways of thinking and
engaging with the public about farming.

First published online in March 2009 by FACE and

Page |5
supported by Arts Council England.
Text © Georgina Barney, Images as credited.