Farmers for America Darden, Classroom 50 Wednesday, February 27, 2019
 

5:45 Light refreshments
6:00 Film
Panel follows

WHO WILL FEED US?

• The average age of the U.S. farmer is 60
• Half of America’s farmland is going to change hands in the next 12 years
• 20% of our food is imported

This is the story of young people who are stepping up.

The University of Virginia Food Collaborative is pleased to screen Farmers for America, the new film from Graham Meriwether. The filmmaker spent four years traveling the United States interviewing the farmers who are taking on the tough work of bringing food to our plates. Meriwether tracks those leaving the profession and the passionate young farmers who are stepping in to take over. The challenges are huge for today’s farmer. This film covers a new breed of farmers – men and women who keep close to their customers through social media, a coalition of vets from the Iraq war, urban farmers growing in Detroit, and many others – all keeping in touch with the land through food and community.

Meriwether previously produced American Meat, the story of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. Inspired by the progressive work on Polyface he digs deeper into U.S. agriculture to find the number of farmers has fallen from 6 million in 1980 to 3 million today, only 6% of our farmers are under the age of 35. In the film Meriwether asks Who will own our farmland? Who will grow our food? Come to the screening to hear the answers of American farmers.