The Last Crop

   This Thursday I saw a showing of a work in progress film called The Last Crop. The film is about Jeff and Annie Main and their farm in Northern California, Good Humus Farms. The Mains face the same problem as many other farmers across America, to carry on their farm for future generations. The film shows the importance of a farm to its community as something that can bring people together under a connection to the land. Jeff values the fertile land that the farm sits on and wants it to continue as farmland rather than being developed by suburban communities, as is increasingly common. Jeff shares a personal connection… The film provides some startling statistics, such as the fact that there are eight farmers in the U.S. over 65 for every one farmer under 35. It is a close look at one example of a sad trend of dying farms.

After watching the film and hearing Jeff and Annie Main answer questions about it, I kept asking myself “What should I take away from this story to apply in other places? What has this film taught me?” While I think this is something you have to decide for yourself, I couldn’t find much to apply the film too in my own world. All that I could think of was how important it is for us to plan for the future and provide for the land as it changes and continue to do what we know is good for the planet even as the communities and society around us change.

-Simon Willig