Pineapple

In the 19th and 20th centuries the pineapple represented the power and reach of the British military. It was a prized possession for the administrators and agronomists that ran colonial agricultural businesses.

Much of the wealth the British Empire generated through exploitative agriculture, brought widespread harm to people and land. The recent legacy of colonial economies, means we now live in a world of unequal and unjust development.

Western European and North American countries have considerable wealth and can more easily manage social and environmental issues. Whereas majority world countries, particularly those that were 'underdeveloped' through colonial economies, now have less wealth to cope with social and environmental issues like droughts and food insecurity. They are still navigating how to best rebuild their economies as self governing states, often without access and ownership of natural resources within their borders.

Today, 46% of food in the UK is grown overseas. Often this food is imported by Western European businesses that grow on land privatised on the eve of independence, cultivated by low wage labourers.