ED.EM.05 - Agriculture

Down a small overgrown lane, in a dilapidated old farmhouse, sat the life’s work of Maurice Richardson, eight boxes and various files of photographs, slides and negatives. He donated his photographic archive to the Société Jersiaise on his death. The collection provides an excellent insight into all aspects of rural and agricultural life in Jersey from the 1960s through to the 1990s.

This was a subject close to Maurice, himself a small-scale grower, and from a line of farmers stretching back over 400 years. The photographs show industries in transition but also an awareness and desire to keep traditional practices alive. The photographs are particularly poignant with the continued reduction in the number of active farms in Jersey. For India Hamilton, author of this issues article, these practices and the deep connection to the land evident in these images, can offer positions for us to begin to reimagine Jersey’s agricultural future.