INSPIRATION: Most people don’t understand where their food comes from, who grows it, or how it is grown. We are tethered to our computers and experience much of the world through screens. Food shows up at our front door after we click a mouse or push a few buttons on our phones. The grocery store is as far as we go when it comes to understanding the modern farm. Connection to our food is vital, yet overlooked. However, recently a new consumer consciousness and curiosity has awakened. The impact of global warming has people asking how the money they spend affects the Earth. Do our dollars contribute to the demise of the planet? Are the purchases we make having a negative or positive impact on our children’s future? Who grows our food? How do they treat the workers on their farms? How do their methods affect the planet?
This project elegantly connects people to the farmers who grow our organic food and reveals a scientific style of farming that could be called a farming revolution. A lot has changed on the modern farm. Farmers are no longer the stereotypical weathered country boys with overalls, straw hats, plows, and maybe some animals, working small plots of land separated from the rest of the world. Our understanding of how farms are run, who runs them, and what they mean to society is in need of an update. Farmers today are educated scientists who work with modern technology as well as pitchforks and shovels. These are members of our society who hold solutions to the big problems that face our planet.
Why make a film about farms? I think the photographer Ansel Adams has the right answer. He said, “If you want to save the forest, you have to make people fall in love with its beauty.” When we lose our connection to important things, they fade away. Knowing how your food is grown and where it comes from is the key to having a healthy planet and healthy, sustainable food for generations to come. From the Earth will make you love the beauty, the science, and the people behind the modern farm. It will reconnect us to systems that are good for all of us.
Production information
Production in cooperation with: MankindTV
DP & Cinematographer David Gutierrez
Drone cinematography Braulio Reynoso
Color grade & Edit: Scott Council
Special thanks to Red Digital Cinema for hooking up Red 8K