New Film Documents Beginning Farmer Uprising
October 18, 2011
Mary Liz von Krusenstiern of Neighborhood Harvest in Bellingham, is a first year Food To Bank On farmer.
Media contact: Sara Southerland, Food & Farming Outreach Coordinator, sara@sconnect.org, (360) 647.7093 x114
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2011 – Bellingham, WA
New Film Documents Beginning Farmer Uprising
Bellingham, WA – The Sustainable Connections’ Food & Farming Program will host a “meet the next generation farmer mixer” and final cut of the film, “The Greenhorns” on Tuesday, October 25 at 6:30 pm at The Pickford Film Center.
The event is being thrown as a community awareness raiser in celebration of the current cohort of participants of the beginning farmer business training and mentorship project, Food To Bank On.
"The Greenhorns" documents the decisive reemergence on our national landscape of a key cultural and economic force, the young American farmer.
The Greenhorns, a national grassroots nonprofit organization of young farmers, premiers this much-anticipated documentary film all over the Northwest this fall, from independent theatres like The Pickford to college campuses.
As in many other areas of the country, Washington’s young farmers are quietly leading a shift in agricultural demographics. USDA statistics show that Washington’s and the nation’s farmers are aging overall, with an average of 57 years old for principal operators in the most recent survey of 2007. However, between 2002 and 2007, Washington experienced a 32% increase in the number of principal farm operators 34 years old and younger. During this same period, the number of all farmers under 25 – principal operators or not – more than tripled nationally. Those aged 34 or under more than doubled.
These and other data describe a situation in which the prevalence of very old veteran farmers (65 years old and older) obscures the statistical reality of the rising wave of new entrants to farming, according to the Washington Young Farmers Coalition.
Directed by farmer/ activist Severine von Tscharner Fleming, founder of the national Greenhorns organization, and produced in dozens of states over three years, “The Greenhorns” runs a fast 50 minutes.
A lively panel discussion and fundraising refreshments reception and mixer will follow the film. Panelists include the director of the Greenhorns, farmer/ activist Severine von Tscharner Fleming, two women who are training the next generation of farmers, Sarita Role Shaffer, director of GrowFood.org and VIVA farms, a Skagit-based farming incubator project that helps new farms get started and Rosalinda Guillen with Community to Community and the Cocinas Sanas / Healthy Kitchen Project, that promotes good nutrition through healthy eating habits among Latino farm worker families and throughout the Latino community, and two participants in the Food To Bank On project, Leah Vanderstoep, of Nooksack Delta Ranch a grassfed beef company in Ferndale, and Chris Elder, co-director of Bellingham Urban Garden Syndicate, will participate on a panel moderated by Food & Farming Manager Laura Ridenour.
The community is invited to view the film, and afterward engage in conversation with the men and women at the forefront to new urban and rural agriculture movement.
What: Special Beginning Farmer Event – a fundraiser for Food To Bank On: Film, Panel, Reception
When: Tuesday, October 25, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: Pickford Film Center – The entry fee is the price of a regular movie ticket: $9.50 for adults, $7.00 for students and $6.25 for members.
More info: pickfordcinema.org, sustainableconnections.org
About the Greenhorns:
The Greenhorns national non-profit organization recruits, supports and promotes young farmers in America. Using radio, blogs, film, new media, original resources and live events, the Greenhorns build agrarian culture by connecting young farmers with land, resources and each other.
