Artist Statement:

There are estimated to be 126,800 farm jobs in Idaho.
44,000 farm workers and of that, half of them are unpaid.
Of these workers in Caldwell Idaho alone, it is estimated that thousands of them have been poisoned by pesticides in the field.
In Idaho, farming is one of the biggest pillars of our communities. We look at our farmers with pride and respect. They feed communities, bring in money for the state, and yet there is so much about the farming community that gets overlooked. People romanticize the idea of farming. They love the idea of to supporting small farms at farmers market, but how much do you really know about your agricultural community? As more of our Idaho land is being bought up for development, land and pesticide regulations are becoming more lenient, and A large part of commercial farm workers are being threatened with the possibility of deportation, it is becoming increasingly important that people start looking at what is happening in their local food industry.

It is incredibly important to start to identify what agricultural systems you want to directly support.

Smaller farms are starting to see the struggles of our times. Frosts are becoming more unpredictable and happing at inopportune times, resulting in smaller or failed crops in latter seasons. Our summers are getting hotter, resulting in more water needed to keep crops alive and also in more dangerous work environments. Small farms are struggling to keep up with changes while large ag. is turning to pesticides and cutting corners to keep producing. We are seeing pesticide companies and large ag corporations already trying to fight in courts to make it harder for workers to stand up to them. Trying to make it so the results of their practices go unpunished.

Already over half the working population in Caldwell Idaho alone has reported being wrongfully exposed to pesticides. From working in a field that is freshly sprayed to being sprayed directly from planes overhead. The people who have spoken out have been subdued by powerful companies and fear of consequences. An unfitting treatment to those whose shoulders agriculture balances on. We are at a very important turning point in history, and I believe that one of the most important things we can all do right now is to come together and really evaluate and create the community we want. Because there is so much power in standing together.

This art piece is a manifestation and collection of a small part of Idaho's agricultural community. Large scale faces of all sorts of people are depicted here now. Some who are large agriculture or pesticide corporation owners fight for financial gain, some lawyers and Idaho government officials fighting for our land, some who support workers who can't support themself, People who work in the fields with their own hands, and some who pay little mind to the people who tend to their business.

All these faces make up your personal agriculture system right now. Do you recognize any? All together here now, who on this wall is most valuable. Can you even tell who is who? Really? Are you positive about that? How do you know? Do you know the name of the person who picked the food they are eating for dinner? Do you know the person who raised that cow they will eat latter? Was the cow happy? When you purchase fruit from that fruit stand where is the money really going? Our food industry is so large and expansive it’s so easy to be unaware of what's really happening, but knowing what you support and supporting what you believe in is becoming more and more important.
Know your agricultural community.