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Modern Farmer

By Dwell @dwell
Farming has come a long way since the quaint notion of a red barn and flowers resting in mason jars. With the launch of Modern Farmer, a print quarterly, website, and online marketplace dedicated to the art of farming and the people doing it well, a new breed of "rurbanista" has its go-to guide. Founder Ann Marie Gardner (who helped launch Monocle and New York Times' T Magazine) was inspired to create Modern Farmer through travels as a journalist and her country life in the Hudson Valley. She saw the need for a media outlet that could address serious issues around food and farming with a global perspective and modern aesthetic. Photo

Meet the Modern Farmers: Juan Morillo, Sofia Collin and Felix Cisneros. Photo by: Michael Schmelling/Modern Farmer

"I think that because there is an urban population that's really taking up farming in a big way or moving to more rural locations, they take with them an urban sensibility into the country. I think there's going to be a really interesting architectural language that's going to be developed because of this move from urban to rural. Everyone has this dream of living in a barn, but when you look at Scandinavia—what they do with a barn in the countryside is so fresh. It's not the same old rustic thing put together. " Upcoming stories include vertical gardening, humane slaughter, and a tour of a sheep-shearing quarters in Tasmania.

Portrait of Ann Marie Gardner

Editor-in-Chief Ann Marie Gardner. Photo by: Mark Hartman/Modern Farmer

And that's just the beginning of Gardner's passion for this topic. "If we can become a force where we're getting a better story told about our food, that to me would be a great accomplishment." When asked how to make the idea of modern farming appealing to purveyors of mid-century modern design Gardner says, "I think it's more modern than mid-century. It's post mid-century. It's a beautiful sparsity that seems very modern because in the country you don't need art, you have nature outside your window."

ModernFarmer.com launches April 4th. The print quarterly will be available starting April 15th at Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble locations nationwide.


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