Black Soil: The Farms and Food of Manitoba

In July 2025, multidisciplinary artist Alexa Mazzarello and photojournalist Chloe Ellingson joined Farm Credit Canada’s President and CEO, Justine Hendricks, on a journey across Manitoba to document the lives, landscapes, and operations of Canadian Prairie producers and food processors. 

Working with a blend of analogue photography and audio recordings, Mazzarello seeks to evoke the texture, sound and spirit of farm life for urban audiences and everyday Canadians alike – work that speaks to the deep roots of agriculture and food in Canada’s economy, culture and sense of self. 

The portraits in this project give equal weight to the producers, processors, their families, animals and the Prairie land – each a vital protagonist in the larger narrative of Canadian agriculture and food. By embracing an analogue process, Alexa situates today’s producers and food processors within a broader historical continuum, contributing to the enduring visual record of rural Canada.

For more about this project visit Let’s Grow Canada.