Please join us for the premiere of Homeplace Under Fire, a short documentary film directed by Charles D. Thompson and produced by Farm Aid in cooperation with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
Homeplace Under Fire Premiere
Hosted by Farm Aid co-founder John Mellencamp
Thursday, May 18, at 7 pm
Griffith Theatre in the Bryant Center at Duke University Durham, NC
RSVP at http://events.duke.edu/homeplace
About Homeplace Under Fire
Homeplace Under Fire is the story of the front-line, grassroots work of American farm advocates and their 30-year fight to keep family farmers on the land. It is a look back at the roots of farm advocacy with important lessons for today’s farm economy.
The Farm Crisis of the 1980s drove hundreds of thousands of family farmers into foreclosure. But out of that crisis arose a legion of farm advocates who refused to stand idly by.
Fellow farmers, farm wives, and rural leaders studied laws and regulations, started hotlines, answered farmers’ calls from their kitchen tables, counseled their neighbors, and went toe-to-toe with lenders – giving their all to keep neighbors on their land. Homeplace Under Fire celebrates these advocates and their remarkable work. Thousands of farmers are alive and on their land today because of them. As Willie Nelson has said, these advocates are the best of America.
The Challenge Ahead for Farm Advocacy
In addition to capturing the stories of these intrepid farm leaders, Homeplace Under Fire seeks to inspire a new generation of farm advocates. The field of farm advocacy faces a number of urgent challenges:
- Our lead farm advocates are aging and need to pass along their knowledge and expertise.
- Today’s consolidated and concentrated marketplace, as well as new farming practices and markets, bring a range of new challenges for traditional farm advocates.
- Access to effective lending, risk management and legal support are major factors that limit beginning farmers and the growth of local, regional, organic and other value-added farming systems. The expertise of farm advocates is critical to overcome these barriers.
- Since 2013, America’s farmers and ranchers have weathered a 45 percent decrease in net farm income, the largest three-year drop since the Great Depression.
The need is great, the number of farm advocates too few. Join us on May 18 to learn more about these every-day heroes and the need for a new legion of advocates to grow and support the next generation of farmers.
About the Premiere
This event is free of charge (but please register because seats are limited).
The evening will include a screening of the 30-minute film followed by a discussion with John Mellencamp, director Charles Thompson, Farm Advocate Benny Bunting, North Carolina farmers Curtis & Valerie Byrum, Scott Marlow of Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI), Savi Horne of Land Loss Prevention Project, and Carolyn Mugar of Farm Aid.
Watch the trailer and learn more about the ongoing challenges of farmers that make a new generation of Farm Advocates essential at www.homeplaceunderfire.org.
