Sunday, March 21
The one-day festival will be held virtually and will focus on farms and farming issues with special consideration for those with a regional connection. The program will include films made by professional and amateur filmmakers.
Featured Films: Sustainability Around the Globe
Urban Farming
The COVID-19 pandemic has created food shortages and problems with access to food. “Seeds to Plate” is a garden-based educational program with an integrated approach that uses science, history and art classes to help students develop a love of growing and eating healthy food.
Filmmaker: Seth Koury
Run time: 7:35
Forest Farming: Building a Sustainable Supply Chain
Forest farming is an agroforestry practice where non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are stewarded and/or cultivated in the forest understory. Managing forests is a topic of interest in our region as when farmland goes fallow, it often reverts to forests. Unregulated lumbering can disturb the water supply, wildlife habitats, and forest botanicals that are used for medicinal purposes.
Filmmakers: Ann Armbrecht and Terrence Youk
Run time: 11:13
Mark Usher: The Roman Villa Project
Vermont farmer and classics professor Mark Usher describes his ongoing research project that examines Archaeology, Paleobotany, and Sustainable Agriculture in Italy’s Sabine Hills. This is fascinating look at 1500 year old farming practices and biodiversity that inform the way a contemporary olive farm builds on the past.
Filmmaker: Reid Kerley, Loud Cat Creative
Run time: 7:02
Kelp: It’s What’s for Dinner
While cultivating kelp as a food has been a tradition in many Asian cultures for centuries, kelp farming only reached U.S. shores in recent decades, in part due to its environmental benefits. Part of the Science Friday series, this video examines the role that kelp farming plays in moving beyond sustainability into biological and economic regeneration.
Filmmaker: Luke Groskin, Science Friday
Run time: 5:46
Cultivating Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
Step into the mushroom kingdom and unlock the secrets of fungi. From lions mane and reishi to shiitake and pink oyster, these healthy and delicious mushroom species are worth the effort it takes to grow them. With incredible cognitive and neurological benefits, these mushrooms may hold the key to solutions for many of society’s ailments. Chatham’s Rock City Mushrooms is a popular stop on Chatham’s annual farm tour each September.
Filmmaker: Paragraphic
Run time: 12:54
Hudson Valley Fisheries Brand Documentary
Hudson Valley Fisheries is a recirculating aquaculture facility in Hudson, New York growing steelhead trout. These fish are fed a GMO free diet and are free from hormones, antibiotics and vaccines and rated a Best Choice by Seafood Watch. They’re all about sustainability.
Filmmaker: Poull Brien
Run time: 3:48
The Futuristic Farms that will Feed the Future
The security of the food system is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. Efficient farming in the Netherlands presents one solution with a greenhouse system that produces 20 times more food with ¼ the water, resulting in one of the most sustainable agriculture systems in the world.
Filmmaker: Michael O’Shea, freethink
Run time: 6:20
Sailors for Sustainability #86 – A Farm that Restores Nature
Ivar and Floris are two Dutchmen with a love for the natural world and a passion for travel. Since 2016, they have sailed around the world searching for solutions to sustainability challenges. #86 profiles a farm in Chile that combines organic farming with reforestation efforts and tourist education. Their goal is to restore local flora and fauna on former grasslands.
Filmmakers: Ivar and Floris
Run time: 6:14
How an Indoor Farm Uses Technology to Grow 80,000 Pounds of Produce per Week
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised new issues of food security and food production. Bowery Farming is a network of vertical farms based in NYC. Here, innovations in light, water, and other growing technologies enable the multi-level operation to use 95 percent less water, zero pesticides, and to grow produce optimized for flavor versus bulk or insect resistance.
Filmmaker: Daniel Geneen and McGraw Wolfman
Run time: 11:44
LIVE VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION
Sunday, March 21 at 4:00pm
Moderator: Daniel Franck, Ph.D., University of California (Berkley), botanist and Director of Science Curriculum at the Core Knowledge Foundation.
- Willy Denner, co-owner and operator of Little Seed Gardens, a 97 acre farm in Chatham that produces 15 acres of vegetables and herbs and Randall cattle breeding stock and grassfed beef using a Holistic Management model.
- John Ng, founder of Hudson Valley Fisheries, a 1200 metric ton, 160,000 square foot indoor acquaculture facility which in 2019 became the first such facility to earn the designation of New York State Grown and Certified.
- Troy Weldy, botanist and President of Columbia Land Conservancy. Prior to joining CLC last September, Troy was Director of Lands at the Nature Conservatory of New York.