Film Review: To Make A Farm

Steven Suderman's To Make A Farm intimately exposes the relationship of five new small-scale
farmers with their land and animals as they attempt to make a healthy difference for their communities and environment by living off the land. Unlike other films such as Dirt, which advocate for the importance of sustainable agriculture, soil health and methods like small-scale farming; To Make A Farm actually shows the process of becoming a small-scale farmer and how it contributes to the community along with the environment. The many possible pitfalls and struggles—as well as simple pleasures and wholesome satisfactions—contained within the farming lifestyle are made apparent throughout the film.

The Canadian documentary's characters consist of two couples and one single man who manage three separate farms. None of them had ever farmed before they decided to enter small-scale agriculture for themselves. Suderman follows the fledgling farms of Leslie Moskovits and Jeff Boesch in Neustadt, Ontario, Tarrah Young and Nathan Carey (also in Neustadt), and Wes Huyghe in Minnedosa, Manitoba. At the beginning of the film, all of them are in various stages of establishment; Wes lives in a tent and plows his field for the first time at the making of the film, Tarrah has eight years of farming behind her but begins working on her farm full-time for the first year, while Leslie and Jeff bought their farm a few months before the film began.

Years before filming began, it was when Tarrah took an organic agriculture course on a whim
while studying environmental issues that she decided to become a farmer: “In this class, I was seeing
that these farmers were doing all these positive things for the environment, that they were seeing the
fruits of their labor so to speak and it just was like that and I just knew. Really I thought I would
dedicate my life to saving the world and I ended up farming,” (Benenson, 2010). Tarrah and Nathan
organically raise lamb, pigs, chickens and ducks for slaughter, as well as a few crops such as potatoes. Despite the end game of their business, they purposefully form strong bonds with their animals and insist on giving them the most enjoyable lives they can.

Meanwhile, Leslie and Jeff cultivate over a hundred varieties of vegetables and herbs. Customers pay them a lump sum at the beginning of the year in exchange for fresh produce when each crop is harvested. The couple has some heartbreaks with potassium deficiency in their soil, at one point having to destroy an entire crop of broccoli. However, they emerge triumphant thanks to the many varieties of crops that they produce, utilizing resilient polyculture instead of following the prevalent trend of modern mainstream monoculture (Alteiri, 2000). “Ecologically I think it makes a lot of sense to be diversified, and economically too. But still, you can really screw stuff up if you don't know what you're doing,” Tarrah says in the film (Benenson, 2010). The farmers all maintain that they are only beginning to experiment and improve from failure within a lifelong learning process.

A self-described rambler, Wes traveled and roamed the world for 10 years until he wound up on
a farm in the Yukon. He was inspired to return home to Manitoba and lay down roots. It is here that the documentary begins following him. “What I was looking for wasn't out there, necessarily, it was right here where I had left it long ago,” Wes says. Borrowing a few acres of land in his hometown, Wes plows his field for the first time and plants seeds. He initially encounters some difficulties such as running into town for water four times a day in the summer and dealing with pest insects, but he
eventually prevails for the season, selling his produce to the community after a newspaper article is
written about him. At the culmination of the season, he happily discovers a spring on his land to solve the water running issue.

In essence, the whole of To Make A Farm is an unassuming piece of work that really sheds light
on what it means to be a small-scale farmer. Practical and personal aspects of independent farm life are both exposed, giving viewers an idea of what it might take emotionally and physically to operate a farm. The film is shot with quaint, quiet cinematography to capture an overarching peace and beauty, despite the ups and downs of the narrative. Suderman's direction and questions are well placed, with the stories of all three farms flowing well in separate but similar tributaries. The camera work is not overly invasive or spectacular, but rather succeeds in cultivating a relaxed, simple tone. The film's budget was obviously low, but for a documentary of this sort, that's not a bad thing. The director really got to know the characters—in his narration he mentions that he often walked the fields with the farmers without his camera—which seems to have facilitated comfort and openness from the cast. Further, it appeared that only natural lighting was used. The interviews were all on-site, presumably utilizing only a camera-mounted microphone to collect audio. The soundtrack itself sounds very organic and rural, which fits the film seamlessly.

Themes explored are the fragility of crops and animals when antibiotics and pesticides aren't
used, as well as the payoff and greater quality of the crops and animals for not using such products. At one point in the movie, Tarrah's lambs and yewes appear to have caseous, a incurable bacterial disease. Upon their diagnosis by a local veterinarian, she breaks down into tears. Not only are her lambs part of her livelihood, she deeply cares about their health and welfare. “The outcome of these potatoes means a lot to me and the health of my animals means a lot and I think that's really exciting and I love the feeling of connection that's happening and it almost feels like something spiritual is happening in that yeah...I get tired, I get a bit stressed but I don't ever want to stop,” says Tarrah (Benenson, 2010). The connection between farmer and farm is further explored in the case of Leslie and Jeff. “Your farm is a reflection of who you are as farmers,” says Leslie. The pride and ownership that goes into each vegetable or animal among these farmers is huge, undoubtedly larger than the pride over a single piece of corn producer by a practitioner of mono-culture.

To Make a Farm does not teach the viewer how to start a farm of their own, but it does do a fair and proper job of presenting the life of a small-scale farmer. In the film, Wes says that in spite of his struggles, he really enjoyed learning from his mistakes and had a lot of fun along the way. Tarrah says when she started farming it felt like the start of her life. All of the new farmers in the film feel more drawn to the land after working it.

Works Cited

Altieri, Miguel A." Modern Agriculture: Ecological impacts and the possibilities for truly sustainable
farming." University of California, Berkeley. Division of Insect Biology. 2000.

Benenson, Bill, et al. "Dirt! The Movie." New York: Docurama Films, 2010.

Suderman, Steve, et al. "To Make a Farm." Winnipeg: Orangeville Road Pictures Ltd, 2011.