Focus on Farmers: Art and Hill Farming (ed. J Hayes) (Halsgrove Press)

"...as Francis Bacon long ago observed, “adversity doth best discover virtue” and I have no doubt that, over time, a younger, more dynamic, more entrepreneurial and more self-confident farming industry will emerge, that is more in tune with the times and with its customers.  Yes, it will probably be smaller, but that need not mean that vast swathes of the countryside go to rack and ruin.  Thanks to the various environmental schemes, the vast majority of Devon will continue to be managed, even if, for the time being at least, rather less of it is farmed." [from Anthony Gibson's essay, "Devon Farming – the challenge of change"]

The Focus on Farmers book arose directly out of the Focus on Farmers project, which AHA ran in 2004-6. The book not only collects together much of the artwork (that which can be represented on paper, at any rate) but also has an extraordinarily wide-ranging collection of essays from such diverse authors as American artist Lucy Lippard, Regional Director of NFU South West, Anthony Gibson, and author and former National Park Officer, Prof. Ian Mercer.

The book is published by Halsgrove Press and is available from all good bookshops and online stores. It is edited by Jennie Hayes, and designed by Simon Ryder.

Funders for the book include a generous donation from Kate Ashbrook, and the Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund / Defra, the Dartmoor Trust, Littorai, and a significant in-kind contribution from Dartington College of Arts (Creative Enterprise).