Every year, 7 million children starve to death. Is this sad? Yes. Were many of you shocked by that? Probably not. What many of you may not know, however, is that hunger isn’t just a third-world problem; it’s a first-world problem too.
In fact, 15 percent of Americans suffer from food insecurity, and many school-age children get their only meal of the day while they are in school. To help spread the word about this, a number of leading companies in the U.S. feed industry teamed up to bring you The Ivy League Farmer, a Hallmark-style movie that spreads awareness not only about food insecurity, but today’s progressive dairy industry.
“First and foremost, we want to bring awareness to the food insecurity issues that we have right here in our own country,” Jeff Cannon, president and CEO of Diamond V, says. “In America today, we’ve got 22 percent of our grade age children that are actually food insecure. … The second thing then is to really start to give people outside of the agriculture industry – the 98 percent of us who aren’t involved in agriculture – start to give them some insight into why modern agriculture is so important to their livelihood and really provide, at least in this country, the cheapest and the most cost-effective and the safest and the most abundant food supply on the world.”
The project started a couple years ago at Nutra Blend’s annual customer appreciation event, which Diamond V participates in. The Sawyer Brown Band, a country and western band, provided the entertainment. Through this relationship, the band learned a little more about the agriculture industry and wanted to know how they could become more involved. Many discussions later, they decided to form a nonprofit organization called Farming to Fight Hunger. Their first project? The production of The Ivy League Farmer.
The story centers around young Harvard graduate Joel, who decides to spend a few weeks with his parents on their dairy farm before heading to his job on Wall Street. After watching how hard his father works to run the dairy, he decides to do something about it. To do this, he employs the help of the local large animal vet, played by Chris Knight, who just so happens to be a published nutritionist and long-time friend of his father’s. The ensuing scenes and conversations not only highlight and discuss the challenges, questions and triumphs producers face as they adapt to modern technology, but also the need for it as the agriculture industry rises up to meet the challenges of feeding a growing population.
That is the movie’s goal, to raise awareness about the dairy industry and food-related issues with people who aren’t directly connected to it. This is what drew Knight, who is best known for his role as Peter Brady on the hit show The Brady Bunch, to the project. He hopes that through this movie, those who aren’t involved in agriculture will have a better understanding of how their food is produced.
“I’m a science fan, and what it turns out farming is, is science,” Knight says. “You’re all scientists and engineers, food engineers. I have a lot of friends who don’t understand how their food gets here. This movie helps in some small way to teach people about farming who wouldn’t otherwise know anything about it.”
In fact, it’s been an education for Knight himself, who found out about the project through his brother-in-law.
“The nutritional aspect of animal husbandry as related to this project was an eye-opener,” Knight says. “I had no idea you fed supplements to cattle. I eat supplements, but I couldn’t tell you if the supplement I got was really the supplement in the bottle because there’s no regulation. The ‘a-ha’ moment for me was that there’s regulation in the supplement industry.”
Currently, the movie has mainly been shown to members of the agriculture industry; however, the organization is working with a number of groups and several major cable TV networks to reach the movie’s intended audience, consumers. This is a very different approach than documentaries, scientific studies and articles the industry has previously employed to share the truth about agriculture. It reaches them in a more entertaining way and connects with them on a more emotional level. It’s a fun, family-friendly story that sheds light on issues that affect America’s food supply, issues that consumers need to be aware of. Cannon says they hope this project will be the first of many.
“What we hope is that through all of those outlets, through community showings through the FFA, through the showing in a more broad way on cable TV and selling the DVDs, as well as online, that we’re able to create enough interest at the consumer level that we can have another project and create maybe a series of these movies and/or a series on TV that would help to educate the general public on where their food comes from, how it’s produced and why, as well as bring awareness to food insecurity issues that we have in this country as well as around the world,” Cannon says.
Given the agriculture industry’s positive response to this movie, the organization has already started working on their next movie. Knight, who will play the part of the feedlot manager, says it will likely be called Where the Fast Lane Ends and will focus more on the feed industry and the media’s relationship with the agriculture industry. The movie is not a sequel, but it will contain much of the same messaging that is seen in The Ivy League Farmer. PD
PHOTO 1: Progressive Dairyman team members (left to right) Matt Kear, Walt Cooley, Glen Leavitt, Mike Christensen and Jenna Hurty stopped to take a picture with movie star Chris Knight (center) at the 2015 World Dairy Expo premier in Madison, Wisconsin. This event was hosted on Sept. 30 by Nutra Blend, Elanco, Diamond V and others.
PHOTO 2: Movie star Chris Knight spent some time in the Diamond V booth on Wednesday at the World Dairy Expo to sign movies and talk to people about The Ivy League Farmer. Photos by Jenna Hurty.
