New Agriculture for a Post-Cranberry Future (2020)

Modern agriculture, founded on a system of private properties and monocultures, creates landscapes that are fragmented and mostly unadaptable. What if agricultural systems were instead indistinguishable from their surrounding ecosystems? What if, when gazing across fields of rice, corn, or other crops it was impossible to tell where the fields ended and the wetland or forest began? What kind of production system is necessary to create such an agriculture? What new forms of labor are required? This project takes on these questions by reimagining the cranberry bogs of Wareham, MA. Stressed by competition, low prices, and warming temperatures, cranberry farmers in Massachusetts are being forced out of the industry. This retreat challenges the current industrial system and creates an opportunity to establish new forms of agriculture that are biodiverse, interconnected with local ecologies, and foster a food culture based on uniquely local ingredients. These ideas are not radically new, they are based in the ethnobotanical knowledge of Indigenous people across the United States. The Wampanoag, whose land Wareham was founded on, farmed and sustained themselves for centuries in eastern Massachusetts. Their ancient knowledge provides the framework for this project. The design proposes a new system of agriculture that produces a variety of crops and materials to create a diverse system of labor and harvest that remains interconnected with the surrounding landscape.