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Skidmore College

Publication Date

Spring 2013

Program Name

Australia: Sustainability and Environmental Action

Abstract

Over the past two-hundred years, the industrialization and mechanization of agriculture has slowly dissolved the centuries-old bond between human beings, the land and their food. Today, this disconnect threatens to exacerbate wide scale environmental degradation and a wide array of chronic diseases. However small, local farms that sell their produce directly to consumers are in a position to reverse this trend and reconnect consumers with their food. Small-scale farmers are able to see the health of the environment as instrumental to their economic and personal wellbeing and are able to be held accountable for their farming practices by their customers. It is thus essential that information regarding the work of small-scale farmers be spread to the larger public.

Film has long been used as an art form to inspire the public, disseminate information and advocate for social change. Thus my film, Where the Food Grows seeks to embrace these aspects of film in order foster greater discussion and public discourse on food production. To create Where the Food Grows, I conducted 4 interviews, compiled over 8 hours of footage and completed nearly 200 hours of work, observation and editing at Hayters Hill Farm in Byron Bay, NSW. Though my film lacks a depiction of the bond between consumers and producers at the Farmers Markets, it succeeds at accurately portraying the work involved in the small-scale production of food. Where the Food Grows carries the potential to spur conversation, deliver information and offer a necessary and sustainable alternative to the prevailing model of agriculture.

Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Agriculture | Family, Life Course, and Society | Food Processing | Sustainability

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