An online event part of the Cambridge Festival. Photographs are powerful storytelling tools. However, their meaning is often open to interpretation; an image can hold different meanings depending on the accompanying headline, hashtag or meme. Photographs depicting food production often evoke strong feelings and increasingly divide opinion. Food production is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But nothing is ever that black and white.

Contrasting solutions for reducing food systems’ contribution to the climate crisis are emerging. Industrial-scale sustainable intensification and smallholder farming represent two very different approaches. While both are valid, they sit in opposition to each other. Even within the same research project, there can be conflicting opinions on how best to create sustainable food systems.

In the large and rapidly growing country of India, with its diverse landscapes, increasing urbanisation and widespread drought, developing a sustainable food system must be balanced with feeding those who live there, many of whom live below the poverty line.

Is industrial farming inherently bad? Is subsistence farming too marginal to make a difference? Is the best solution a combination of the two?

Visit an interactive virtual exhibition of images from India that depict relationships with food and the livelihoods of those involved in its production. Listen to contrasting views from scientists and social scientists working on the TIGR2ESS programme. Share what food sustainability means to you.

There are two sides to every story. Sign up the the virtual exhibition here.

This exhibition will be available to view at any time during the Cambridge Festival. Once you have signed up to attend, you'll be able to access the online event page which will include a link to the exhibition. On the day the festival starts, this link will go live and you'll be able to visit the exhibition, at any time until the festival ends at 23:59 on 4 April 2021.