“Agriculture is the basis of every culture. There is no place on earth where this is more true than Palestine… But the relationship between the farmers and the land goes far beyond the materiality of earning an income. It is an experience; it is a poetic experience between the land and the people who live in it. It is give and take, an exchange, a relationship. This poetic relationship between the land, the trees, and the people is something to nurture and something so beautiful to keep and learn from.” — Nasser Abufarha
Fifteen years ago, Nasser Abufarha returned to his native Palestine after earning a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology in the United States. He realized that Palestine’s ancient farming practices were in crisis. Given the restrictions imposed by the conflict conditions on farming communities, and the dominance of global agribusiness, prices were falling, and young people were no longer learning the traditional farming practices that had been passed from generation to generation over thousands of years. For Nasser, it was deeply personal.
“I knew how much the land meant to them, I grew as a farmer, grew up here as a farmer. I am a farmer myself, my father is a farmer. So I knew there was a gap and a vacuum there that needs to be filled—somebody to nurture their love for the land.”
Nasser quickly moved to develop a strong network of producer, commercialization, and research organizations working hand in hand, including the Palestinian Fair Trade Association and the jointly operated U.S. and Palestine-based Canaan Fair Trade. Today, more than 1,600 smallholder farmers in the West Bank participate in the project through 55 village cooperatives. Olive oil prices have more than quadrupled since the project began, and regenerative farming is a movement so attractive that many have abandoned factory work to return to sustainably servicing their land full time.
I am a master naturalist and photographer supporting Canaan Fair Trade, documenting Palestine’s contemporary regenerative farming movement and practices. Learning from Nasser and the farming community, what I have found is a story of social entrepreneurship and sustainability critical not only to the wellbeing of communities in the West Bank—but from which we all can learn and take great inspiration for the sustainability of our planet.
This photo essay tells the story of traditional Palestinian farming practices—and the farmers who are preserving these practices today. If you’d like to learn more about Canaan Fair Trade and buy their artisanal, sustainable products, I encourage you to do so.
The West Bank—historically known as the land of Canaan—is where the first human settlements and the agricultural revolution began. To this day, the majority of Palestinians live in rural areas and practice family farming, most often centered around the olive tree. In Palestine, the olive tree is not only a central cultural force, but also provides food security and sense of connection and belonging. I snapped this photo while sitting with a farming family, eating fresh-pressed olive oil with herbs and vegetables from their fields, which was one of the most delicious and beautiful dining experiences of my life.
There are old-growth olive trees in Palestine that are between 1,000 and 3,000 years old. Some may even be older. These trees—as pictured here—are known as the “Rumi trees.” They date back to the Roman’s time and even before the Romans. They are scattered across the West Bank, still providing olive fruits and lovingly tended to by families who have inherited them. Their wrinkled trunks show both their age, and their strength.
Palestinian farmers see their trees as though they are family members; the trees are passed down as an ecological and cultural inheritance from generation to generation. The farmers often say that the land and trees will smile, and express happiness when they arrive to care for them. They also speak of the trees binding their families together across time. “They planted so we can eat; we plant so they can eat,” they say. Here, a farmer takes a rest on the side of one of his family’s Rumi olive trees.
Here, a farmer presents wild sage that grows alongside the olive trees in his grove. The farmers practice sustainable and regenerative farming, including intercropping the trees with other plant species, including almonds, sage, and thyme.
In this photo, a farmer collects wild fava beans in the olive grove near her village; these beans were used to make our dinner that evening.
A farmer walks us through his wheat fields that will be used to create freekeh—wheat that is harvested while young and green and considered by many to be a superfood. In addition to Fair Trade organic olive oil, Canaan Fair Trade also produces high-quality organic freekeh, za’atar, and almonds.
A young man drinks pristine well water. There are wells, olive and grape presses that are thousands of years old scattered across the landscape.
Every autumn, entire farming families across generations come together to participate in the olive harvest. Tea is cooked over an open fire and treats are consumed while families hand-pick olives tree-to-tree from early morning to dusk each evening. Every year, all of Canaan Fair Trade’s partners in the Palestinian Fair Trade Association come together to celebrate the harvest in a large festival with food and dancing.
Palestinians are incredible hosts, and serve bountiful meals with the fresh ingredients from their fields.
The founder of Canaan Fair Trade, Nasser Abufarha, sits with an elderly farmer. Everywhere we went, people affectionately invited “Doctor Nasser” in for a coffee and a meal. While Nasser is proud to have elevated the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and helped preserve critical traditions, the project is about much more to him:
“Agriculture is the basis of every culture. There is no place on earth where this is more true than Palestine… But the relationship between the farmers and the land goes far beyond the materiality of earning an income. It is an experience; it is a poetic experience between the land and the people who live in it. It is give and take, an exchange, a relationship. This poetic relationship between the land, the trees, and the people is something to nurture and something so beautiful to keep and learn from.”
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