March 23, 2023

Produce Love Notes | Rachael Nerney

Join us in learning more about Charleston-based artist, Rachael Nerney, and her whimsical new collection of minis Produce Love Notes. The full collection hits shelves on March 27th!

Rachael Nerney is a visual artist who loves and admires the small details in life. From sliced citrus destined for cocktails to fresh herbs from the garden, Rachael captures the fleeting moments and memories we share with food through vibrant color, light and pattern. Her goal is to spread joy to communities with her whimsical illustrations.

Produce Love Notes Collection

"My life could be summed up in grocery lists. A list for the famers market, a list for harris teeter, a list for whole foods market. Cooking is my favorite past time, and sourcing the best ingredients is something I spend a good deal of time thinking about. I keep a binder of my favorite printed recipes that I reference daily. This series began when I noticed all of the produce stickers stuck on each sheet of paper, completely forgotten and unintentionally placed.

I started researching produce stickers new and old and saving references of all my favorites. I was inspired by all of the quirky illustrations and fonts that made up each of these unique stickers. I sketched some of my favorite designs and played around with how I wanted to arrange them. I eventually decided that making the focus on color interactions would play well with highlighting the graphic design of the stickers."

"Noticing all of the different countries of origin on each sticker, I began to think more about our food chain on a large scale. How fascinating it is that we can have strawberries year round from the grocery store, when 40 years ago they were only eaten in season. Global production makes this possible and is the root of the facade of abundance when shopping the aisles of the produce department.

I believe that more often than not we don't think about where our food is coming from. When we buy more than we need or from somewhere around the globe, we aren't making the best decisions as a consumer in regard to our planet."

"At what cost does this have on our environment?

#1. Agriculture is a large contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are the main driver of climate change.

#2. The world population doubled over the last 50 years to 7.5 billion people, while the share of the population suffering from food and nutrition insecurity fell from 15% in 2000 to around 11% today. While an unacceptably high 820 million people are still food insecure, it is not because food is not available. The root cause of hunger and malnutrition today is poverty – often exacerbated by conflict – that inhibits access to food. (Source oecd.org)

Food production per farmer has also increased strongly, while the share of the global population working in agriculture has fallen. Today, agriculture accounts for only 3% of total employment in high-income countries, but over 40% in some major emerging economies such as India, and an even higher total in some less developed economies, including many in Africa.

Take Away: Choose local, seasonal, organic and sustainable food when possible; because sustainable food options usually come with a smaller carbon footprint. (source foodprint.org)" - Nerney