Eco-Art Competition 2022

This painting is designed to depict the idea of sustainable farming. Over years, industrial monoculture farm practices, including use of tillage and chemicals, has resulted in the degradation of farmland worldwide. Erosion and other factors have caused past farmland to lose all its nutrients and ability to sustain life. As global warming progresses and the population continues to increase, we as a society must implement more sustainable farming practices. These practices not only have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also increase wildlife biodiversity and promote the longevity of our farmlands. In my opinion, the key to sustainable farming is biodiversity. In a biodiverse farm, the animals and plants present work together to sustain life for each other, limiting the need for harmful human intervention. In this painting, the right side represents a biodiverse farm and the left, a wheat monoculture. Upon looking at the image, you will see that on the left, the wheat farmland slowly turns grey, indicating the degradation that occurs to the farm ecosystem as time progresses. On the right however, the colour sustains throughout the whole picture, indicating how new biodiverse farming methods sustain life. This particular issue of sustainable farming lies very close to my heart, as I have a huge passion for farming and hope to open my own biodiverse farm in the future. My grandpa used to own a farm in Saskatchewan and I have always felt close ties with the farming aspect of my family heritage. As I begin university next year, I hope to study sustainable agriculture to deepen my knowledge of the topic and gain the skills necessary to influence others. Just as I hope this picture raises awareness to the importance of sustainable farming, I want to continue to advocate this issue in the future.