Four Must-See Sustainable Ag Documentaries

- This summer, the sustainable food movement will move into the bright lights of Hollywood when Food Inc. is released in theatres nationwide.  “Starring” sustainable food celebrity Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma), and accompanied by Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Joel Salatin (Polyface Farm) and Gary Hirshberg (Stoneyfield Farm), the film seeks to give viewers a transparent view into the industrial food system in the United States and “reveals surprising -- and often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.”

- Perhaps the most widely known film about sustainable agriculture is The Real Dirt on Farmer John.  More than a documentary, this is a story about farmer John Peterson and his decades long struggle to create and maintain an agricultural space of his own.  With footage from his early years as an Illinois farm boy, when he turns the farm into a counter-culture sanctuary and when he eventually loses the family farm, The Real Dirt shows how John has made Angelic Organics into one of the largest organic CSA operations in the country.

- I recently attended a special screening at the Center for American Progress of The Garden, an Academy Award nominated documentary about the struggle of the South Central Farmers to continue cultivating what was at the time the largest community garden in the United States. Confronted by the indifference of a real estate developer and seemingly insurmountable political and community opposition, the film shows these urban farmers fighting for their right to grow healthy food for their families and maintain a sense of shared community in the paved paradise of Los Angeles.

- Describing the rise of organic farming and CSAs in the Puget Sound region of Washington, Growing Awareness tells the story of several small-scale wholesale organic producers who have shifted to direct market CSA operations in the face of increased competition from large organic factory farms. The film also discusses through producer, academic and CSA member interviews, how our globalized food system and increasing demand for food security makes buying locally produced goods one of our most powerful weapons in breaking the control of industrialized food consumption.

(Photo credit: ToastyKen on Flickr)