PHOTOS: A drone’s eye view of ‘foodscapes,’ from cattle to soybeans to shrimp

Diane Cole | November 27, 2024

We usually encounter our food roughly at eye level: stacked on shelves in the supermarket, displayed on stands at outdoor markets, beckoning at the Thanksgiving table.

Acclaimed photographer George Steinmetz wanted to bring a different perspective to our daily bread, protein and produce. As he looks at the way food makes its way to feed a constantly growing human population, he works mainly with drones for a bird’s eye view. In his “foodscapes,” human, boats and machines all play a role.

George Steinmetz, a pioneer in aerial photography, atop The New York Times building. His new book is Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World's Food. — George Steinmetz, a pioneer in aerial photography, atop *The New York Times* building. His new book is *Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World’s Food.* (Kathy Ryan)

Steinmetz is a pioneer of photographing from above. Before the advent of drones, he’d soar (and sometimes crash) in low-flying paragliders — which he compared to “flying lawn chairs.” As drones improved in quality, he made the switch in 2015.

For this project, Steinmetz and his low-flying drones documented food production across six continents, 36 countries, 27 U.S. states and five oceans.

The images are featured is his latest book, Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World’s Food. The accompanying text, by journalist Joel K. Bourne, Jr., documents the food-print these practices leave on our environment.

In a photograph from Nouakchott, Mauritania, hundreds of small fishing boats, called piroques, arrive in the port of this African nation, some afloat on the waves, some coming in with their catch. But beyond the picturesque is a backstory of concerns about the supply of fish. Local fish are moving farther north due to rising sea temperatures, leading to competition and conflicts with fishermen in neighboring Senegal.

“The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which compiles global fisheries data, reported in 2019 that more than a third of fish stocks were overfished, while 57% were at maximum sustainable harvest,” Bourne writes.

Soybean harvest in Bahia, Brazil. (George Steinmetz)

The boats harken back to ancient times, but much of food production today is ultra-modern. Over the course of his travels, Steinmetz was struck “by the existence of all these tremendously super-industrialized globalized production sites,” he says, as well as “the dominant trend everywhere toward mechanization.” Both are on view in his photo of the soybean harvest at Fazenda Piratini, Bahia, Brazil, where rows of crops vanish into the distance as futuristic-looking machines work the land.

This photo shows paths of deforestation carved by illegal clearcutting for cattle farms, logging and gold mining in Pará State, near Itaituba in Brazil. (George Steinmetz | GeorgeSteinmetz.com)

Looking down from above, he says, a camera can capture the ecosystems of the world and the changes they are seeing — like “a map that is happening right before you.” That’s evident in the photo (above) showing the paths of deforestation carved by illegal clearcutting for cattle farms, logging and gold mining in Pará State, near Itaituba in Brazil.

The Wrangler Feedyard in Tulia, Texas, houses about 50,000 head of cattle. (George Steinmetz)

Super-sized agricultural companies and production sites are on view throughout the book. The Wrangler Feedyard in Tulia, Texas, houses about 50,000 head of cattle; when added to the other nine feedlots owned by Amarillo-based Cactus Feeders the total is 500,000.

After further fattening up (they arrive at about 750 pounds each) for several months, the cattle are sent to slaughterhouses.

A chicken factor in China. (George Steinmetz)

Steinmetz also learned that a slaughterhouse has its own special procedures to get the right parts of the animal to the right market. At a large pig slaughterhouse in Brazil, Steinmetz recounts, each carcass could provide “something like ten different individual parts to each of ten different countries where they could get the best prices. The noses sold well in Nigeria. There was a good market for the feet in China.”

Working one shrimp at a time, women at Avanti Frozen Foods in Yerravaram, Andhra Pradesh, India, can de-shell and de-vein up to 44 tons of farmed shrimp per day from the company's 1,600 acres of shrimp ponds. Avanti is one of the largest shrimp exporters in India, which dominates the global shrimp export market. About 75% of its frozen shrimp is exported to the United States; Costco is a major customer. Shrimp is the most valuable traded marine product in the world, with an estimated market value of nearly $47 billion in 2022. More than half of that shrimp comes from farms instead of the sea. In 2017, researchers calculated that it took about 0.8 pounds of wild fish — converted to fish oil and fish meal mixed with plant-based food — to make 1 pound of farmed shrimp. — Working one shrimp at a time, women at Avanti Frozen Foods in Yerravaram, Andhra Pradesh, India, can de-shell and de-vein up to 44 tons of farmed shrimp per day from the company’s 1,600 acres of shrimp ponds. Avanti is one of the largest shrimp exporters in India, which dominates the global shrimp export market. About 75% of its frozen shrimp is exported to the United States; Costco is a major customer. Shrimp is the most valuable traded marine product in the world, with an estimated market value of nearly $47 billion in 2022. More than half of that shrimp comes from farms instead of the sea. In 2017, researchers calculated that it took about 0.8 pounds of wild fish — converted to fish oil and fish meal mixed with plant-based food — to make 1 pound of farmed shrimp. (George Steinmetz)

As for the market for shrimp, the At Avanti Frozen Foods in Yerravaram, Andhra Pradesh, India, exports about 75% of its frozen shrimp to the U.S.; Costco is a major customer.

The Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate warehouse in Emilia Romagna, Italy is the Fort Knox of cheese, with an inventory of 500,000 wheels worth an estimated 157 million dollars. Production of classic Parmigiano Reggiano dates back to Benedictine monks in the Middle Ages. For the last 80 years, production has been strictly controlled. Cows must be raised in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, and parts of Bologna and Mantua, and eat only local forage. It takes 145 gallons of milk to make each 84-pound wheel, which is aged at least a year — and turned and brushed every seven days to cure properly. At the end of the year experts tap each wheel with a hammer to listen for defects and decide whether it is worthy to be branded with the mark of Parmigiano Reggiano. If so, it's left to cure for another 24 to 40 months. — The Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate warehouse in Emilia Romagna, Italy is the Fort Knox of cheese, with an inventory of 500,000 wheels worth an estimated 157 million dollars. Production of classic Parmigiano Reggiano dates back to Benedictine monks in the Middle Ages. For the last 80 years, production has been strictly controlled. Cows must be raised in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, and parts of Bologna and Mantua, and eat only local forage. It takes 145 gallons of milk to make each 84-pound wheel, which is aged at least a year — and turned and brushed every seven days to cure properly. At the end of the year experts tap each wheel with a hammer to listen for defects and decide whether it is worthy to be branded with the mark of Parmigiano Reggiano. If so, it’s left to cure for another 24 to 40 months. (George Steinmetz)

In spite of so much mechanization and expansion, however, Steinmetz notes the continuing existence of traditional agricultural practices in Amish country in Pennsylvania; in Emilio-Romagna, Italy, where Parmigiano Reggiano is still produced as it was in the Middle Ages; and in the small Polish village of Suloszowa, Poland, where families maintain the small strips of farmland allotted to each household in the 16th-century.

From sleepy 16th-century village to 21st-century internet sensation, Sułoszowa in southern Poland (population 6,000) earned millions of online fans after this aerial image of the one-road town went viral in 2020. It was the field system of narrow strips of farmland attached to the back of each house that caught everyone's eye. Known as a Waldhufendorf, or 'forest village,' the town has a layout that was common in Central Europe during the late Middle Ages, as settlers reclaimed forests in hilly or mountainous areas. Each farmer received an equal allotment of roughly 40 acres — enough for one family to farm without help from others. Although the strips have narrowed over the years as they've been divided and passed to each generation, they still produce wheat, oats, potatoes, cabbage and strawberries. — From sleepy 16th-century village to 21st-century internet sensation, Sułoszowa in southern Poland (population 6,000) earned millions of online fans after this aerial image of the one-road town went viral in 2020. It was the field system of narrow strips of farmland attached to the back of each house that caught everyone’s eye. Known as a Waldhufendorf, or “forest village,” the town has a layout that was common in Central Europe during the late Middle Ages, as settlers reclaimed forests in hilly or mountainous areas. Each farmer received an equal allotment of roughly 40 acres — enough for one family to farm without help from others. Although the strips have narrowed over the years as they’ve been divided and passed to each generation, they still produce wheat, oats, potatoes, cabbage and strawberries. (George Steinmetz)

Meanwhile, in the East Arsi region of Ethiopia, barley, known as the country’s “king of crops” had been farmed for 5,000 years, the government is trying to distribute higher-yielding varieties of the grain throughout the country, where in 2023 civil conflict and drought contributed to leaving 20 million people in a state of food insecurity.

A free hot meal is served at the Sri Harmandir Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple, in Amritsar in Punjab State, India. The community kitchen provides a free hot vegetarian meal to 100,000 people every day of the year, consisting of Indian flatbread, rice, a curried vegetable dish and lentil soup. The food is paid for by donations and ladled out mostly by volunteers. Sikh temples around the world serve an estimated seven million free meals every day around the world as an act of charity. (George Steinmetz)

In the midst of such needs, community kitchens that serve free meals are welcome. One such site is the Sri Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar in Punjab State, India, where 100,000 people receive hot vegetarian meals daily.

In selecting the photos for his book, Steinmetz says, “I tried to strike a balance between wonder and worry. Wonder at how much we’ve been able to improve productivity,” and at the same time, getting across the message that “we want to try to protect what little wild places we have left in our planet.”

Diane Cole writes for many publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. She is the author of the memoir After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges. Her website is DianeJoyceCole.com.