January 18th, 2024
By Rachel Newcomb
Feeding Tomorrow, Starting Today
On a winter evening in Southern California, local American Farmland Trust supporters gathered alongside new friends in partnership with Common Table Creative to host the premiere of Feeding Tomorrow, a new documentary film on food, agriculture, and health. The film spotlights a brave group of visionary leaders in agriculture, healthcare, and education who seek to build a more just and resilient system in their local communities – giving rise to a more regenerative world. This documentary is the vision of Oliver and Simon English – accomplished filmmakers passionate about addressing issues within our food system suffering from ecosystem destruction, health epidemics, and inequality.
The audience and filmmakers mingled before the screening at the historic Kodak Studios. AFT staff were on hand to answer questions about our work and our mission. John Piotti, President of AFT, participated in a Q&A session at the end of the screening, which was streamed by Food Tank. Lea Harvey, AFT’s Vice President of Development and moderator for the Q&A, concluded, “AFT was proud to be a partner in bringing Feeding Tomorrow to audiences in Los Angeles. The strong turnout and robust dialogue was evidence that AFT’s message, ‘No Farms, No Food, No Future,’ is universal and resonates from the neighborhoods of West Hollywood to agricultural communities across the nation.”
The resounding feeling I collected from guests grazing at the snack table post-viewing was that this documentary is set apart from other films discussing our broken food system. Feeding Tomorrow gives viewers a sense of hope and agency in addition to the stark realities. For example, Mark Shepard of New Forest Farm shows how he and his family have transformed their 106 acres in Wisconsin into a thriving and productive landscape through intentional design, starting with the health of the land itself. Many species of livestock forage throughout the property, which is powered entirely by renewable energies, creating an environment that is restorative from the ground up.
Many audience members lingered in the theater after the credits stopped rolling, energized and excited by the stories they had just heard and the live discussion that followed. Oliver states, “Once we realize that our food choices are powerful, we realize that all our consumption choices are powerful…food is the vehicle for us to have that realization.” Most of us do not consider in our day-to-day lives how what we decide to consume and where that food comes from has a measurable impact. Events like this screening provide an opportunity to come together and dedicate time to discussing how we might work together to make positive changes in the world.
The film is available for pre-order on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and Google Play, and will be released on January 23rd. If you are interested in being a part of supporting this crucial work, please visit our website.