Additional Resources

 

Food, Sustainability, and Society
Resource Guide
 
For further reading and study concerning Food, Sustainability, and Society:
 http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org  (A nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food through research, public and policymaker education, media, and lobbying, recommended by Dr. Friedlander, former USDA inspector.)
http://www.foodandsocietyfellows.org/fellows.cfm?id=80342 (Ricardo Salvador’s extended bio and publication list)
http://www.seasonalchef.com/farmredhook.htm (Ian Marvy’s Red Hook Farm/Profile)
http://www.upc-online.org (Dr. Karen Davis/”More Than A Meal”)
http://www.ufw.org (United Farm Workers/Hungry Harvesters)
http://www.chickenindustry.com (NPO dedicated to animal rights/Michael Specter)
http://www.foodfirst.org/node/230 (Institute for Food and Development Policy)
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1749 (Worldwatch educates consumers on global issues of sustainability)
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/buylocal (Educates consumers concerning the local food movement and food related issues, including issues of immigration, sustainable farming, and other issues related to this series in full. Seeks to build community through food.)
http://www.localharvest.org (Locates farmer’s markets in any area and educates consumers)
http://www.caff.org (Community Alliance with Family Farmers)
http://www.veritablevegetable.com/About%20Us/Our%20Present (Based in San Francisco, the nation’s oldest distributor of organic produce and sustainable food sourcing)
http://ofrf.org/grants/apply.html (Organic Farming Research Foundation, with information concerning grants available for research and sustainable food sourcing)
http://casfs.ucsc.edu (The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems is a research, education, and public service program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, dedicated to increasing ecological sustainability and social justice in the food and agriculture system.)
www.cgiar.org/   The CGIAR's mission is to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through scientific research and research -related activities.

www.rff.org/rff/Documents/GlobalPoverty&HungerResources.htm
RFF is closely monitoring the negotiations and analyzing the potential impacts of policy options under discussion, focusing on their implications for food and society.
www.rff.org/fsrc/ The Food Safety Research Consortium is a multi-institution multi-disciplinary collaboration to improve the effectiveness of the US food safety system through risk- and science-based approaches.
 
Agrofood Films for Teaching
List
  • Phil Howard has an extensive list of films and books on his homepage at Michigan State University. See the “Book/Film Database” link in the upper left corner, which takes you to “Books and Films Related to Community, Food and Agriculture”: http://www.msu.edu/%7Ehowardp/booksfilms.html
 
Movie Reviews by UC Berkeley Students, Department of Education
  • “My Father’s Garden”. 1 hour.
    • Documentary that contrasts two different farmers’ relationships with pesticides.
    • Comments: Great film. I know that many UCSC students joke that they have seen it in several classes, but it is still a great film for historically situating technological optimism and its human toll. One concern is that the contrast between fruit orchards and Kirschenmann’s grains raises more questions than the film answers and oversimplifies the social relations of transition. Perhaps a good film to use along with Michael Bell’s book Farming for Us All, which does grapple with the cultural issues of transition between different farming system paradigms.
  • “Growing Local, Eating Local”. PBS NOW (2007).
    • Summary from the website: “When the federal government ended its 60-plus years of price support to tobacco farmers in 2004, Virginians were hit particularly hard. This week, NOW travels to the mountainous farmlands of Appalachia to meet farmers who've attempted the difficult switch from tobacco to increasingly popular organic produce. Among those profiled is restaurant owner Steven Hopp who, along with his wife—acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver—spent a year living off the land. Social entrepreneur Anthony Flaccavento founded an Enterprising Idea called "Appalachian Sustainable Development" to help local farmers and markets make the transition not just to organic, but to local organic. Can local farmers change course and crops and still survive in a shifting economy?”
    • Find at: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/344/index.html
  • Fed Up! (2002).
    • Summary from the producers: About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically engineered ingredients and the biotech industry is spending millions a year to convince us that this technology is our only hope. Using hilarious and disturbing archival footage and featuring interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials and activists, FED UP! presents an entertaining and compelling overview of our current food production system from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it. FED UP! answers many questions regarding genetic engineering, the Green Revolution, genetic pollution and modern pesticides through interviews with Marc Lappa (sp?) and Britt Bailey from the Center for Ethics and Toxics, Peter Rosset and Anuradha Mittal from Food First, Vandana Shiva from the Research Center for Science, Technology and Ecology, Ignacio Chapela from UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Martina McGloughlin, Director of UC Davis' Biotechnology Program and many others. It also introduces us to local Bay Area organic farmers from Purisima Greens Farm and the Live Power Community Farm, presenting community supported agriculture (CSA) and small- scale organic farming as real alternatives to agribusiness and industrial food.
  • "Media that Matters Film Festival: A Collection of Shorts on Food and Sustainability”
  • The Farmer's Wife. Frontline PBS.
    • Summary from producer: Acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland takes us deep inside the passionate, yet troubled marriage of Juanita and Darrel Buschkoetter, a young farm couple in rural Nebraska facing the loss of everything they hold dear. Part 1 of "The Farmer's Wife" recounts the moving story of Juanita and Darrel's romantic love affair and begins the journey to the core of their emotional struggles, which have pushed their marriage to the brink. Darrel and Juanita tell their own story, in their own words, without the intrusion of a narrator. It unfolds before our eyes, as it is happening.
    • See summary info and other teaching materials at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/farmerswife/
    • Comments from one agfoodie: Very long, but tells the story of the human side of industrial ag better than anything else I know of.
  • King Corn. 2007.
    • This film isn’t perfect, and for better or worse it has Michael Pollan’s fingerprints all over it, but I highly recommend it for teaching. The photography is fantastic (especially all of the stark Midwest winter shots), the music is good, the protagonists are engaging and funny – so undergrads will stay engaged. Besides, I have never seen Earl Butz the way they portray him. 90 minutes.
    • Get info at: http://www.kingcorn.net/
  • Fast Food Nation.
    • Reviews:
      • “I've seen the movie Fast Food Nation and wouldn't recommend a full showing - the book is much better and I continue to use it. The part I might draw from the movie is a very good simulation of the border crossing - you don't get much documentary footage on that! - and the kill floor footage is for real!”
  • Super Size Me:
    • Reviews:
      • “Super Size Me is really obnoxious and to my mind should only be shown as a way to illustrate representations of fat people. And to illustrate orthorexia (Spurlock's girlfriend-chef).”
      • "the part of the Super Size Me movie I discussed with my class was the part where the McD icons pop up all over the island of Manhattan, illustrating their high density and high recognizability."
  • Ripe for Change (PBS).
    • Focus is on local food system
    • Review: “overdrawn characterizations of bad and good food," overrepresentations of racial diversity at the Berkeley farmers market, etc.).
  • “Black Gold"
    • Focus is on fair trade.
  • “Cadillac Desert” series by National Geographic
    • Review: a bit dated (1997) but well done and with some fantastic commentary throughout from key actors and Reisner (although I should point out that the focus is certainly on environment and water rather than agrifood system per se).
  • Rancho California (Por Favor). 2003. 59 mins.
    • Producer’s summary: A troubling journey through the racial "off-worlds" of migrant camps where homeless indigenous Mixteco workers coexist within yards of employers in gated designer home enclaves in Carlsbad, La Costa, and Del Mar. Over five years, the filmmaker--a former farm worker--explores a set of media ideals about participation and self-representation, but finally faces layers of complicity, including his own.
    • Review (from Jill): This documentary isn’t about farm work per se, but it does capture some of the reality of immigrant life (right in the towns where I grew up!).
    • Info and purchase at: http://www.berkeleymedia.com/catalog/berkeleymedia/films/american_studies/rancho_california_por_favor
  • “The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers” Documentary about a photography project on contemporary farm workers.
    • I haven’t seen this yet so can’t comment on it yet. Looks like the fantastic photos are collected in a book, and that there is some curriculum info that accompanies it (including perhaps the documentary).
    • Photos (with commentary) and ordering info at: http://themigrantproject.com/gallery.html
  • Here’s one website that lists many films on farm labor – although most of the listings are devoted to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union: http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/use/ufwbib.html
 
 
 
 
FOOD & SOCI E T Y POLI C Y FELLOWS PROGRAM
ANNA BLYTHE LAPPÉ . E: ANNA@SMALLPLANETINSTITUTE.ORG PAGE 1
Media on Food, Farming, and Hunger | updated Summer 2005
Please send suggestions for additional films, corrections, or reviews of these films to anna@smallplanetinstitute.org. If you’d like to be updated when new versions of this list are released, please join our mailing list at www.smallplanetinstitute.org.
Feature-Length Documentaries
Title Synopsis Distribution Info
Broken Limbs
57 min., 2004
Prod. Jamie Howell
& Guy Evans
The good times have vanished from the "Apple Capital of the World." In the
heart of the Pacific Northwest farmers by the thousands are going out of
business and thousands more await the dreaded letter from the bank. To
discover why, Guy Evans sets out on a small town journey and finds hope
in a new breed of farmer with solutions applicable not just to apples and not
just to farming, but to nearly any sector of the American economy troubled
by the effects of consolidation and globalization.
Official film website:
www.brokenlimbs.org
Contact: Jamie Howell
jamie@brokenlimbs.org
Guy Evans
 
Darwin’s Nightmare
107min, 2004
Dir. Hubert Sauper
Darwin's Nightmare is a tale about humans between the North and the
South, about globalization, and about fish. The film the social and
ecological change of introducing the Nile Perch into Lake Victoria in
Eastern Africa, which has destroyed the lake’s ecology.
www.coop99.at/darwins-nightmare
Contact:
International Film Circuit
internationalfilmcircuit.com
 
Deconstructing Supper
48 minutes, 2002
Dir. Marianne
Kaplan
Renowned chef John Bishop takes viewers on an eye-opening journey
behind the scenes of global food production. His quest, starting at a
gourmet restaurant, leads to biotech laboratories and farmers' fields, in
attempts to show viewers where food comes from and the implications of
our food choices.
Contact:
 
The Future of Food
89 min., 2004
Dir. Deborah Koons
Garcia
The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth
behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have
quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. From the
prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film
gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively
impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government
policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many
 people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our
food supply. Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, The Future
of Food examines the complex web of market and political forces that are
changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control
the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale
industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real
solutions to the farm crisis today.
www.thefutureoffood.com
Contact: Lily Films
P.O. Box 895
Mill Valley, CA 94942
Tel: (415) 383-0553
 
Life and Debt
80 min., 2002
Dir. Stephanie Black
(Previously broadcast on PBS)
Jamaica — land of sea, sand and sun. And a prime example of the impact
economic globalization can have on a developing country. Using
conventional and unconventional documentary techniques, this searing film
dissects the "mechanism of debt" that is destroying local agriculture and
industry while substituting sweatshops and cheap imports. With a voiceover
narration written by Jamaica Kincaid, adapted from her book A Small
Place, Life and Debt is an unapologetic look at the "new world order," from
the point of view of Jamaican workers, farmers, government and policy
officials who see the reality of globalization from the ground up.
New Yorker Films
85 Fifth Avenue, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Tel: 212-645-4600
Fax: 212 645-3030
info@newyorkerfilms.com
 
Mondovino
135 min, 2004
Dir. Jonathan
Nossiter
Set in seven countries across three continents, Mondovino explores the
impact of globalization on the world's different wine regions.
 
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
83 min., 2005
Dir. Taggart Siegel
An epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer who transforms his traditional
family farm with a revolutionary form of agriculture. Castigated as a pariah
in his community, John bravely resurrects his farm amidst a failing
economy, vicious rumors, and arson. He creates a bastion of free
expression and alternative agriculture in the center of rural America.
Collective Eye
442 Shotwell St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: 415-647-2049
info@collectiveeye.org
 
Super Size Me
97 min., 2003
Dir. Morgan
Spurlock
Super Size Me, a tongue in-cheek look at the legal, financial and physical
costs of America's hunger for fast food. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock hit the
road and interviewed experts in 20 U.S. cities, including Houston, the
"Fattest City" in America. From Surgeon Generals to gym teachers, cooks
to kids, lawmakers to legislators, these authorities shared their research,
opinions and "gut feelings" on our ever-expanding girth. During the journey,
Spurlock also put his own body on the line, living on nothing but
McDonald's for an entire month. It all adds up to a fat food bill, harrowing
visits to the doctor, and compelling viewing for anyone who's ever
wondered if man could live on fast food alone.
Evelyn Carrasco
Hart Sharp Video
Phone - 212-475-2888 x7048
Fax: 212-475-5487
eesupersize@hartsharpvideo.com
info@supersizeme.com
 
Animated Shorts and Online Videos
Title Synopsis Distribution information
Contaminated: The New Science of Food
7 min., 2003
Dir. Josh Shore
This fast-paced film explains biotech agribusiness' evolution and its
potential dangers to the sustainability of the global food supply. Despite the
highly publicized battle over genetically engineered food, many people are
still unaware that many of the products they consume on a daily basis are
GM. In Contaminated, Fritjof Capra, Paul Hawken and Vandana Shiva
explain the evolution of the new biotech agribusiness and its potential
dangers to the sustainability of the global food supply.
Available online at:
gnn.tv/videos/21/Contaminated
Josh Shore
Guerilla News Network
 
The Meatrix
4 min., 2003
Dir. Louis Fox, Free
Range Graphics
The Meatrix is a humorous Flash animation that spoofs “The Matrix” films
while drawing attention to the problems caused by factory farming. Instead
of Keanu Reaves, The Meatrix stars a young pig – Leo – who lives on a
pleasant family farm... he thinks. Leo is approached by a trenchcoat-clad
cow, Moopheus, who shows him the ugly truth about agribusiness,
complete with a send-up of the "stop-motion" camerawork immortalized by
the Matrix. At the end of the movie, viewers are directed to an "action page"
which provides additional information about factory farms and encourages
consumers to support local family farmers and purchase sustainably-raised
meats through the Eat Well Guide.
Available online at:
www.themeatrix.com
Diane Hatz
Global Resource Action Center for
the Environment (GRACE)
 
Store Wars: The Organic Rebellion
5 min., 2005
Dir. Louis Fox, Free
Range Graphics
This entertaining spoof of the Star Wars films features Cuke Skywalker,
Princess Lettuce, Chewbroccoli and other organic rebels—played by real
vegetables dressed as “Star Wars” characters—battling it out with Darth
Tader, the evil lord of the Dark Side of the Farm. The film seeks to educate
consumers about the benefits of organic products. “If you think about it, a
battle is currently being waged over food in America, and the direction
agriculture will take in the future. We’re asking in a light-hearted way for
people to think about the choices they make at the grocery store,” said
Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association.
Available online at:
www.storewars.org
Barbara Haumann
Organic Trade Association
 
The True Cost of Food
15 min., 2004
Dir. Free Range
Graphics
The True Cost of Food is an animated short, showing a family in a “Buy-It-
All Mart” racing to get food for dinner. At checkout, the cashier charges
them “the true costs” of everything they’re buying and the family is shocked
at the total. The cashier explains the cost, including the details of what goes
into raising beef (ecological disasters, energy costs, antibiotic resistance) and
vegetables (agricultural runoff, loss of topsoil, ever-increasingly toxic
pesticides); and the pollution caused by transporting all these products
across the country. The family then runs to a farmstand, where a farmer
shows how the true cost of her food is exactly what shows up on the cash
register. It ends fading out to a happy family dinner.
Available online at:
www.truecostoffood.com
Sierra Club
Tel: 415-977-5500
 
Young Agrarians
8 min., 2005
Dir. Johanna Divine
Young Agrarians was created to introduce young people to a new way of
looking at agriculture and food production. The project grew out of several
concerns: the demise of family farms in America, the rising average age of
farmers, and the fact that young people are unaware of the many
opportunities in sustainable agriculture and local food systems. Shot during
the spring and summer of 2003 on a road trip from Palmer, Alaska, to
Tumacacori, Arizona, the film relates the stories of small-scale farmers,
ranchers and market gardeners of all ages and backgrounds who have
been drawn by their love for the land to undertake the most noble of
occupations — growing food.
Available online at:
www.mediarights.org
Johanna Divine
Glory B Media
 
King Corn
Feature, forthcoming
Dir. Aaron Woolf
King Corn builds on a simple structure: two young producers from New
York return to the land their great-grandfathers settled in northeastern Iowa
and begin an investigation of America’s food system with a simple act.
They plant an acre of corn. But from there the journey is anything but
simple. The acre of corn - which must eventually be sold - becomes a ticket
into the world between farm and plate. Each segment of the film jumps
from the narrative home-base of the Iowa farm to explore distant but
ultimately connected corners of America’s modern food system. Grain
elevators, small town diners, gene laboratories, corporate boardrooms,
robotic warehouses, gourmet kitchens— and the more we know of corn’s
kingdom, the more we know about ourselves. King Corn aims to promote
dialogue and provoke new thought on something most people aren't talking
about: the way America farms and eats.
Aaron G Woolf
Tel: 917-754-8857
aaron@kingcorn.net
 
Other Documentaries
More resources can be found here: www.organicconsumers.org/films.htm
Title Synopsis Distribution Info
Can the Oceans Keep up with the Hunt?
30 min., 2005
(Previously broadcast on PBS)
This documentary is about the state of our seas and the issues of
disappearing fish. Scientists estimate that 70% of the world's commercially
fished species have been fished to or beyond the brink at which their
populations can sustain themselves. "Sadly, some of our favorite fish are
disappearing," said Jennifer Dianto of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. "This
film tour will help students and the local community understand what's
happening and why, and show them what they can do to stop the drastic
decline in fish populations."
Steve Cowan
Habitat Media
Tel: 415-458-1696
steve@habitatmedia.org
www.habitatmedia.org
Maisie Ganzler
 
DIRT: The Next Generation
22 min.
This video is the story of a diverse group of teenagers who break through
stereotypes to become a close-knit community, learning leadership, public
speaking and farming skills. The video is a glimpse into the spirit of The
Food Project from the eyes, words and voices of the young people who
have experienced the program. This youth-produced video serves as a
springboard for discussion about a model that is thoughtfully and creatively
challenging youth to build a better future for themselves and their
communities.
The Food Project
Tel: 617-442-1322
outreach@thefoodproject.org
 
Hybrid
92 min., 2002
Dir. M. McCollum
Hybrid is a portrait of one of the first men to experiment with the
hybridization of corn, directed by his grandson.
Contact: DER
www.der.org
Attn: Brittany Gravely
 
The Pig Picture
18 min.
The Pig Picture highlights never-before-seen investigative footage, tracing
the development of commercial pig rearing in America, from the smallscale
family farms of yesterday to the corporate owned pig factories of
today. This documentary details the suffering of factory-raised pigs, the
industry's reliance on antibiotics and drugs, and its environmental impact.
Humane Farming Association
Tel: 415-771-2253
hfa@hfa.org
 
Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals
28 min. + 15 min.
Dir. Jeffrey Smith
The video features numerous scientists and investigators describing the
health dangers of GM foods, and highlights shocking research results,
inadequate regulations, and corporate control of government. The video
points out that children are most at risk from the potential allergies, toxins,
nutritional, and other problems associated with GM foods, and from the
increased hormone levels in milk from cows injected with genetically
engineered bovine growth hormone.
Jeffrey Smith
Institute for Responsible Technology
responsibletechnology.org
 
Other Documentaries (Feature-Length and Shorts)
Title Synopsis Distribution Info
As We Sow
23 min., 2002
Dir. by Jan Weber
As We Sow documents the stories of survival and failure in the real
heartland, a struggle pitting family against family, neighbor against
neighbor, citizens against their government, and small, independent
farmers against the giants of global agribusiness. At the center is the land
itself: who will control it and how, and at what cost to people and
communities, to animals and the environment, and, ultimately to our
democracy. As We Sow features location shooting and taped interviews
with independent and contract farmers, CEOs and large-scale livestock
producers, grassroots rural activists and environmentalists, legislators and
lobbyists, rural anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and educators.
www.aswesow.com
Contact: Jan Weber
JWCreative Solutions. Ltd.
Tel: 718-230-8788
 
The Global Banquet: Politics of Food
50 min. (2 x 25
min.), 2001
Dir. John Ankele,
Dist. by Maryknoll
(Previously
broadcast on PBS)
Part 1: Who's Invited? Giant corporations allowed to control the world's
food system through free trade policies. Timely and provocative, this video
examines how the corporate globalization of food threatens the livelihoods
of small farmers in the U.S. and developing countries, and how free trade is
the route to mounting hunger worldwide, despite an overabundance of
food. Part 2: What's on the Menu? Mass produced, low-cost food imports
to developing countries; cash crop exports that deplete natural resources
and render developing countries unable to feed themselves; and some
genetically modified crops. Farmers, laborers, environmentalists, animal
rights activists, church groups and students work to rewrite unjust free
trade policies.
Maryknoll World Productions
Tel: 1-800-227-8523,
Fax: 914-945-0670
mkmediarep@maryknoll.org
John Ankele
Old Dog Documentaries, Inc.
Tel: 212-929-9557
johnankele@aol.com
 
The Greening of Cuba
38 min., 1996
Dir. Jaime Kibben
When trade relations with the socialist bloc collapsed in 1990, Cuba lost 80
percent of its pesticide and fertilizer imports and half its petroleum--the
mainstays of its highly industrialized agriculture. Challenged with growing
food for 11 million in the face of the continuing U.S. embargo, Cuba
embarked on the largest conversion to organic farming ever attempted.
Told in the voices of the women and men -- the campesino, researchers,
and organic gardeners -- who are leading the organic agriculture
movement, The Greening of Cuba reminds us that we can choose a
healthier environment and still feed their people.
Food First
398 60th Street
Oakland, CA 94618
Tel: 510-654-4400
Fax: 510-654-4551
cdrake@foodfirst.org
 
Hot Potatoes
57 min., 2001
Hot Potatoes reveals the little-known story behind a disaster that changed
science forever – Ireland’s Potato Famine in the 1840s. More than 150 years later
potato late blight is still an immense global threat, especially since potatoes are
now one of the world's three most important sources of nutrition. But the failure
to heed the warnings of an exceptional scientist back in the 1950s is having
dire consequences at the beginning of 21st century. Hot Potatoes tells the story
of American plant geneticist, Dr. John Niederhauser, who was the first to discover
that the fungus that destroyed crops in Ireland a century before had likely come
from the remote Toluca Valley in Mexico. Darkly, he warned that blight might
someday become resistant to many chemicals then available. Decades later,
that prediction has come true. Hot Potatoes is also the story of Don McMoran, a
third generation potato farmer in Washington state who speaks with painful
honesty about the expense and uncertainty of using chemical sprays. And
it is the tale of Rebecca Nelson, winner of a MacArthur "genius grant," and
a tireless resource for thousands of peasant farmers battling blight in the
Peruvian Andes, birthplace of the potato.
Dir. John DeGraaf
(Previously broadcast on PBS)
Bullfrog Films
P.O. Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
Tel: 610/779-8226
800-543-FROG
Fax: 610/370-1978
info@bullfrogfilms.com
 
My Father’s Garden
56 min., 1995
Dir. Miranda Smith
(Broadcast on the
Sundance channel)
My Father's Garden is about the use and misuse of technology on the
American farm. In less than fifty years the face of agriculture has been
transformed by synthetic chemicals. These chemicals have also changed
the farmers who have used them. This film tells the story of two such lives,
different in all details, yet united by their common goal of producing good
food. One of the farmers is Herbert Smith, a dedicated champion of the
“miracle” sprays of the 1950's who used these chemicals to fashion a manmade
paradise; and his fate is the heart of this film. The other farmer, Fred
Kirschenmann of North Dakota, when faced with a shattered farm economy
and devastating environmental effects of chemical farming, transitioned to
organic farming. Twenty years later, the Kirschenmann farm is a thriving
testament to ingenuity, hard work, and a reverent understanding of nature.
Miranda Productions, Inc.
P.O. Box 2284
Telluride, CO 81435
Tel: 970-728-3882
303-546-0880
Fax: 970-728-3889
303-449-9526
abigail@mirandaproductions.com
 
Time to Act for Family Farms
26 min., 1999
Dir. Michael
Sheridan
This thoughtful analysis of the crisis in America's small farms compares
practices in soil conservation, animal husbandry, quality of product, and fair
labor practices. There is also an excellent illustration of the new type of
family farm run by multiple families, which generates a wide variety of
sustainable cash crops all year. This is a sobering examination of the
negative effects of industrial agriculture contrasted with the new and
encouraging examples of sustainable and cooperative farming.
Center for Rural Affairs
101 S. Tallman St
PO Box 406
Walthill NE 68067
Tel: 402-846-5428
http://www.cfra.org/resources/publications.htm
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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