Against the Grain: Farming Sustainably in an Industrial System

Running time: 30 minutes

Link: 

Director: Tyler Wiewiora, Westbound Productions

2017

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkDpLTXNsGi7FwpMjbjgFOMLBZ52SK-07

Michigan is home to 272 large-scale livestock operations that are not “old McDonald’s

farm.” They warehouse millions of animals and annually generate billions of gallons of

manure. By contrast, sustainable livestock farms are appropriately scaled for the land with

fewer animals and less waste. Less=More supports these farmers working to build a better

food system in an unfair marketplace that favors industrial-scale operations. See

interviews with five of these Michigan heroes: Crane Dance Farm, Parks Dairy, Georgia

Street Collective, Duerksen Turkey Farm, Tillers International. Then check out A

Watershed Moment, an interactive map of all 272 factory farms in Michigan at:

http://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/michigan-cafo- mapping-report

Crisis: Factory Farms and Lake Erie Algae

Running time: 15 minutes

Link: 

Director: Tyler Wiewiora, Westbound Productions

2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XD_wtePNI

This documentary was created as a companion piece to the 2015 report, Follow the

Manure: Factory Farms and the Lake Erie Algae Crisis, which takes an unprecedented look

at the relationship between the manure load from factory farms in the Western Lake Erie

Watershed and the federal subsidies that have poured into the region to facilities that

generate that waste over the last seven years. The report shows that millions of dollars in

taxpayer funds continued to be disbursed, even as phosphorus contamination levels in the

WLEW climbed and CAFOs in the watershed were fined for illegal waste discharges. The

Less=More report also provides a groundbreaking set of interactive maps that locate all

CAFOs in the watershed and connect them with novel data about manure production and

subsidies in the region. View the report at: http://tinyurl.com/FollowtheManureReport

Local, Healthy Food: The Real Bargain

Running time: 9 minutes

Link:

Director: Kirk Cameron

2013

http://tinyurl.com/TheRealBargain

Want more bang for your grocery buck? This short documentary sets out to show how local,

healthy, humane food from farmers you know is the real bargain, not dirt-cheap fast food,

which comes at a high cost to the environment and our health. The film features interviews

with farmers, local food advocates and university experts in Michigan. A companion piece to

the Less=More report from 2013, Restoring the Balance to Michigan’s Farming Landscape.

View report here: http://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/restoring-balance-

michigans-farming- landscape

Available for screenings!

Contact Gail Philbin, gail.philbin@sierraclub.org

LESS=MORE VIDEO LIBRARY