A new film highlights farmers seeking to operate sustainable food systems while addressing climate change challenges.
The short documentary 30 Harvests follows two farmers, Jay Hill in Texas and Megan Kaiser in Missouri. It was produced by the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance and premiered Aug. 15. The USFRA is an alliance of agriculture-related interest groups and organizations, including Virginia Farm BureauFederation and the Washington-based American Farm Bureau Federation.
In the beginning of the film, Hill writes a letter to his daughter explaining why he reluctantly chose to sell the family farm.
After moving off the farm, Hill watches a news report featuring Kaiser, a farmer and soil scientist, speaking about the urgency of fighting global warming while creating a sustainable food supply over the next 30 harvests. She says farmers can do this by making agriculture a carbon-negative industry.
Inspired, Hill resolves to give agriculture another try.
Ben Rowe, VFBF national affairs coordinator, noted that, as the global population continues to grow, “American farmers welcome the challenge of meeting increasing demands for food and fiber. Throughout the 20th century we saw the number of American farms and farmers decline, while productivity dramatically rose.”
Why did the film focus on 30 harvests? Rowe explained that in three decades the world population is expected to reach 9 billion people. Over those 30 years, the film asserts, farmers can be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
“Today’s world increasingly requires that our farmers adapt to meet not only the demands of a growing population, but also 21st-century challenges like large-scale land use changes, loss of farmland, and changing environmental pressures,” Rowe added. “Farmers are no strangers to adversity and will adapt and ultimately help solve the greatest challenges of this generation through innovation, investment and science-based solutions.”
30 Harvests can be viewed at usfarmersandranchers.org.
Share
Contributors
