"Farmland" Documentary Review: The Voices of Families in a New Generation

The new documentary film, "Farmland," hit home with me, as the daughter of a third generation commercial grape grower. This film is a peek into the family farming legacy of five young men in production farming and into the life of a woman who has started a CSA farm business from scratch. While the crops are different, my parents and the six families of farmers in the film share similar challenges, risks, and decision-making in their day-to-day businesses.

This is a film about people first. It’s about the teamwork it takes to operate a family farm and the symbiotic relationship these people have with their land and animals. They show us how much passion and pride they have for the good, but hard, work they’ve chosen to do. The family farm legacy is the central and guiding theme of this film.  As you might expect, it was a beautiful film to watch, with majestic wide-open landscape, movingly colorful sunsets, snow-covered fields awaiting a spring thaw, and big blue skies set in motion by the rolling clouds. The soundtrack is mostly instrumental with some guitar in places and ends with a new take on Woodie Guthrie’s folk song, “This Land is Your Land,” performed by Everclear and Liz Phair.

We hear the contemporary challenges farm families are facing. Some challenges are the same their grand-parents faced, like weather and markets; other hurdles are new, like responding to public perceptions. With only two percent of our U.S. population involved in agriculture, and most people being at least two generations removed from farming, those public perceptions are likely coming from food documentaries, internet chats and posts, and videos that tend to de-humanize and demonize production farming, leaving viewers in fear of their food and wondering where is the truth. This film is not a response to other media, nor does it attempt to answer specific questions, but it does turn the camera onto the family farm and gives them a voice, something that has been mostly missing in other food documentaries.

The film-makers capture the hearts of viewers by telling the stories of the young farmers (all in their 20's, just starting out) in a way that lets us relate to them. They wear many hats - they are farmers, husbands, dads, sons, a daughter, brothers, and members of their communities. We get a glimpse of their relationships with their children, their parents, their siblings, and the people they grow their food for. They are real people, real hard-working people, making a difference in their communities and our world.

In my opinion, "Farmland" is a good film. James Moll, the director, has taken a very ambitious subject, yet focused in on the lives and agriculture of just six people. He created a web of stories with common themes and I think many people will enjoy it, especially young people. I hope more films of this type will come out of this one. I would like to hear more voices from our American farms, especially from the new generation of farmers.