10 documentaries to watch about food sustainability

A Place at the Table

Released: 2012

Running time: 1h 24m 

Available from: Amazon Video, Google Play, Kanopy, Magnolia Selects, Microsoft Store, Plex, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Redbox, Tubi TV, Vudu, YouTube

This documentary about food insecurity intimately examines the life of the 49 million Americans who suffer from hunger or food insecurity. Learn about the daily struggles of those who may be in your neighborhood. While it's not directly about sustainable agriculture, this documentary examines the consequences of our current food production system.

Before the Plate

Released: 2018

Running time: 1h 35m

Available from: Amazon Video, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft Store, Tubi TV, Vudu, YouTube

Learn about how our favorite foods are produced, tracing them all the way back to their raw ingredients. This documentary will examine the challenges facing our modern agricultural systems.

Cowspiracy

Released: 2014

Running time: 1h 30m

Available from: Amazon Video, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Netflix, YouTube

Kip Andersen investigates and confronts the animal agriculture industry in the hopes of securing a more sustainable future. This sustainable agriculture documentary touches on "rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean "dead zones," and virtually every other environmental ill."

Dolores

Released: 2017

Running time: 1h 35m

Available from: Amazon Video, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube

Dolores Huerta was an agricultural and feminist activist who helped Cesar Chavez start the US's first farm worker's union. Follow her story as she fights for race, class, and gender rights, all while raising 11 children. While Dolores wasn't specifically targeting ecology, most of the deplorable working conditions she fought against can be solved by sustainable farming practices.

Follow the Food

Released: ongoing

Running time: 2 seasons, 16 episodes

Available from: BBC Website

This BBC docuseries offers an examination of our food chain from its roots. From their site, "Follow the Food - a multimedia series by BBC Future and BBC World News - investigates how farmers, researchers and innovators are working to secure a sustainable long-term future for the global food supply chain."

Honeyland

Released: 2019

Running time: 1h 29m

Available from: Amazon Video, AMC On Demand, Apple iTunes, DirecTV, Google Play, Hulu, Kanopy, Microsoft Store, Vudu, YouTube 

A documentary from Macedonia about one beekeeper's struggle to save the wild bees of her home region, this cautionary tale shows the dangers of exploitation of natural resources, climate change, and biodiversity loss. While Honeyland doesn't specifically explore sustainable agriculture, it does show what can happen when we don't work to preserve and support the natural resources all around us.

In Our Hands

Released: 2017

Running time: 1h 7m

Available from: Digital Download

Not to be confused with the documentary about Jerusalem of the same name, In Our Hands is a story about farmers who are seizing the opportunities presented by Brexit to escape the world of industrial farming and seek a more sustainable future.

Kiss the Ground

Released: 2020

Running time: 1h 25m

Available from: Netflix

What could our world become if farming could be not only sustainable but actually regenerative? Follow the regenerative agriculture movement with narration from Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Gisele Bündchen, and other celebrity contributors.

Life in Syntropy

Released: 2015

Running time: 15m 29s

Available from: YouTube

A short film made for COP21 in Paris, Life in Syntropy explores the Syntropic Agriculture movement through Latin America and beyond. This sustainable farming method seeks to turn degraded land into useful and beneficial agroforests and has already converted over 1200 acres of land in Brazil.

Plant This Movie

Released: 2014

Running time: 1h 23m

Available from: Pantaflix, Plex, Realeyz, The Roku Channel

This documentary examines the urban farming movement as it takes hold in cities around the globe. Travel from Havana to New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Shanghai, Calcutta, Addis Ababa, London, and more. See the inspiring success of farms carved out in the midst of urbanization and learn the secrets to local farming in even the most densely populated areas of the world.

Source: Eden Green Blog

Photo created by gpointstudio - www.freepik.com

Source: Eden Green