Old Man in Overalls or Leaf Clad Giant; Who Grows Our Food?
The one picture I could find in the Grocery Outlet produce section was of the farmers hands gesturing to a basket full of harvested vegetables; lettuce, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers onions and more. In the background is a huge field, devoid of any other farmers or farm workers. The farmer is depicted as the character you think of when you think of the word “farmer.” Red flannel, jean overalls, wedding ring visible, and I bet if the head was included in this picture it would have a straw hat on top. I think it’s interesting that the text included in this poster emphasises “trusted farmers,” while they don’t even show this farmers face or use a real farmer on a real farm. It’s …show more content…
There was a bag of Green Giant brand carrots in the produce section of Grocery Outlet. While the Jolly Green Giant isn’t a real farmer but rather a fictional giant bean man, I still thought his presence in the produce section was interesting. He appears as he almost always has, leaf clad and proudly gazing over endless fields of vegetables. I remembered that I had seen ads on tv before for Green Giant products, and after viewing a few of those dating back to the 60’s (the Green Giant ragdoll with purchase of Corn Niblets was pretty cute) I noticed a similar representation. Green Giant produce comes from “the valley of the jolly green giant” but other research made it clear that their produce is grown mainly in California and the Pacific Northwest, where it is frozen, then shipped to Minneapolis for processing and manufacturing. In the animated ads, other farmers depicted in the fields are the exact overall wearing, red flannel, straw hat wearing white male farmer that is referenced above. In certain ads, there are groups of them working in the fields, all clones of each other, which I find interesting. In reality, these farms that supply vegetables to the Green Giant Company are made up of migrant workers that are underpaid, undervalued and underrepresented. Green Giant does not release the amount that it pays their workers, or at least it’s not easy to find. …show more content…
I popped into the Co-op to make a quick comparison and saw totally different representations of farmers. Posted on the walls surrounding the produce are portraits of farmers, organic certifications, locations of farms, and of course - the big stamp of “local.” While I appreciate that this is helpful for consumers to be more informed, and creates a more translucent relationship between consumers and their food, I would note that the depictions of these farmers and farms again under represent the labour force that goes into food production. This is something that we mentioned in the discussion of the Female Farmer Project, operators of sustainable farms are mostly portrayed all by themselves. While i believe that the concept of knowing your farmer is beneficial to the consumer, I think it can also disregard the community effort that is put into sustainable food production. The framers shown were almost exclusively white, and while I did venture deeper into the store, past the produce section, I feel like I could safely assume that the other producers represented in the co-op were mostly white. The co-op did a better job at presenting consumers with the sources of their food, but were no better at representing all the people involved in the growing and production of the food we buy at
The one picture I could find in the Grocery Outlet produce section was of the farmers hands gesturing to a basket full of harvested vegetables; lettuce, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers onions and more. In the background is a huge field, devoid of any other farmers or farm workers. The farmer is depicted as the character you think of when you think of the word “farmer.” Red flannel, jean overalls, wedding ring visible, and I bet if the head was included in this picture it would have a straw hat on top. I think it’s interesting that the text included in this poster emphasises “trusted farmers,” while they don’t even show this farmers face or use a real farmer on a real farm. It’s …show more content…
There was a bag of Green Giant brand carrots in the produce section of Grocery Outlet. While the Jolly Green Giant isn’t a real farmer but rather a fictional giant bean man, I still thought his presence in the produce section was interesting. He appears as he almost always has, leaf clad and proudly gazing over endless fields of vegetables. I remembered that I had seen ads on tv before for Green Giant products, and after viewing a few of those dating back to the 60’s (the Green Giant ragdoll with purchase of Corn Niblets was pretty cute) I noticed a similar representation. Green Giant produce comes from “the valley of the jolly green giant” but other research made it clear that their produce is grown mainly in California and the Pacific Northwest, where it is frozen, then shipped to Minneapolis for processing and manufacturing. In the animated ads, other farmers depicted in the fields are the exact overall wearing, red flannel, straw hat wearing white male farmer that is referenced above. In certain ads, there are groups of them working in the fields, all clones of each other, which I find interesting. In reality, these farms that supply vegetables to the Green Giant Company are made up of migrant workers that are underpaid, undervalued and underrepresented. Green Giant does not release the amount that it pays their workers, or at least it’s not easy to find. …show more content…
I popped into the Co-op to make a quick comparison and saw totally different representations of farmers. Posted on the walls surrounding the produce are portraits of farmers, organic certifications, locations of farms, and of course - the big stamp of “local.” While I appreciate that this is helpful for consumers to be more informed, and creates a more translucent relationship between consumers and their food, I would note that the depictions of these farmers and farms again under represent the labour force that goes into food production. This is something that we mentioned in the discussion of the Female Farmer Project, operators of sustainable farms are mostly portrayed all by themselves. While i believe that the concept of knowing your farmer is beneficial to the consumer, I think it can also disregard the community effort that is put into sustainable food production. The framers shown were almost exclusively white, and while I did venture deeper into the store, past the produce section, I feel like I could safely assume that the other producers represented in the co-op were mostly white. The co-op did a better job at presenting consumers with the sources of their food, but were no better at representing all the people involved in the growing and production of the food we buy at