New Roots, Old Soil Fenland Lives In Transition.

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In the Fens, a slow and relentless transformation is unfolding, one that stretches far beyond the soil itself. The agrarian farmers, once the heartbeat of the flat, fertile land, are dwindling. As they pass away their modest plots are increasingly amalgamated into the vast, faceless holdings of large agricorps. Each death marks not only the loss of a steward of the land but the quiet unraveling of a rich cultural tapestry that has defined the region for half a millennia. When the late Jessie Watson of Littleport, Cambridgesh…

G's celery harvest, Cambridgeshire.

Workers at G’s Vegetables in Cambridgeshire, UK reaping the 2019 celery harvest.

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Antek, Denisa and Vendula, seasonal workers from the Czech Republic hoeing weeds in the brassica fields of South Lincolnshire. Weeding, needing the application of the eye to determine between the crop and invasive plants is one of the few agricultural tasks that has yet to be mechanised or automated.

New Roots, Old Soil - Fenland Lives In Transition.

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In the Fens, a slow and relentless transformation is unfolding, one that stretches far beyond the soil itself. The agrarian farmers, once the heartbeat of the flat, fertile land, are dwindling. As they pass away their modest plots are increasingly amalgamated into the vast, faceless holdings of large agricorps. Each death marks not only the loss of a steward of the land but the quiet unraveling of a rich cultural tapestry that has defined the region for half a millennia. When the late Jessie Watson of Littleport, Cambridg…