Adam DeTour Showcases Fruits of Labor for Little Leaf Farms

Adam DeTour, a food and portrait photographer based in Boston, first encountered Little Leaf Farms years ago shooting for Edible Boston Magazine. Little Leaf Farms has the most technologically advanced lettuce growing greenhouse in the world, which is something most of us never knew we needed. 

When I first met them, I immediately knew that they were the future of food, and they were going places.  Since then, they’ve tripled the size of their operations here in Massachusetts and are actively expanding beyond New England.

Adam was clearly on to something and over the years has done several projects featuring their greens in recipe content, advertisements, and more. Little Leaf Farms takes the produce industry and turns it on its head. They do this by asking the hard questions and developing new and creative solutions. The average American eats 30 pounds of leafy greens and lettuce every year. Nearly all of that lettuce is grown in California and Arizona, classically dry environs. The lettuce is then shipped across the country, not arriving at some grocery stores until a full two weeks after being cut.

Little Leaf Farms’ greens arrive at their destinations within a mere 24 hours. On top of that, their technology is some of the most sustainable in the world. They are a company that genuinely cares about not only their product but about the environment as a whole, the food industry, and the communities they serve. In The Story of Little Leaf Farms, CEO Paul Sellew says matter-of-factly, “My family eats the lettuce, my colleagues eat the lettuce, of course, I don’t want to have pesticide residue on there.”

It becomes apparent that pesticide, chemical, and pathogen-free, Little Leaf Farms’ lettuce is a love letter to their community. When the pandemic hit the economy with full force, they kept their priorities straight, stepping up to nurse their community’s economy back to health.

When many of the ad agencies were laying off half their staff, and some were closing their doors altogether, this great local company charged ahead.

Little Leaf Farms made it a point to find a local photographer in order to support their community. That local photographer was Adam DeTour.

The VP of Marketing for Little Leaf Farms came to me with the concept, and we worked out the specifics of executing it together with my amazing food stylist, Catrine Kelty. 

Little Leaf Farms set out to do an advertising campaign on the “Future of Food” requesting three images featuring three products, in this case, three different kinds of Little Leaf Lettuce.

Of course, within the confines of a pandemic, the art direction was all done remotely. In his favor, though, was Adam’s own full-service studio in Boston, not far from Little Leaf’s flagship greenhouse.

We were able to get greens that were cut just an hour before delivered the day of the shoot.

Having a full team in one studio sounds like asking for trouble, but Adam’s space was just large enough to leave plenty of room for everyone on the team to remain distanced and keep each other safe.

Keeping each other safe is really what this shoot and Little Leaf Farms is all about. Of course, greens help keep you healthy, but the company’s goals remain those of protection and conservation. Adam shows a real commitment through his photos, not just to get the best pictures for his clients but also to showcase the vibrancy and beauty that blooms from authentic humanitarianism.

The main thing I learned during this shoot was just how glad I was to have a strong relationship with a local company, my community, during a really difficult economic time. 

To learn more about Little Leaf Farms’ priorities and innovative technologies, click here.

Credits:
Food Stylist: Catrine Kelty

See more of Adam’s work at adamdetourphotography.com.

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