Custodians of the Soil - Swaledale Farming Film and Photography Festival 2024

Farming champions - a photo exhibition telling the stories of nature friendly farming

Stunning images of nature-friendly farmers taken by a farm worker, Jo Coates, who is also a photographer and artist, as part of the Swaledale Farming Film and Photography Festival.

 It’s a joint project between the Tees-Swale: Naturally Connected Programme and the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), for whom Jo is a Farming Champion publicly advocating for an approach to agriculture which produces food while also helping nature and biodiversity to thrive.

 Jo travelled the length and breadth of the UK to photograph her fellow Farming Champions for the project, capturing with her camera everything from remote upland livestock farms in Wales to microdairies in southern England to landscape-scale agriculture operations in the Scottish Borders.

 Jo’s pictures capture the variety and diversity of nature-friendly farming across the UK. The exhibition covers everything from an upland Lake District farm which has areas of wood pasture and horticulture to a large arable farm in Lincolnshire growing crops without pesticides and other chemical inputs to farmers working closely with conservation organisations to use grazing animals to keep landscapes ideal for rare species while also producing high-quality meat.

www.yorkshiredales.org.uk