“The Story of Arizona’s Good Food,” a feature-length documentary produced by Local First Arizona premiered at 8 p.m. on Monday, November 25 on Arizona PBS.
Now, here in Tucson, we don’t get that channel since we have our own local PBS station — Arizona Public Media (ASPM) — but it’s now available to watch on YouTube.
“This film is a love letter to our local farmers,” said Somlynn Rorie, producer and co-director of the film. “They face many challenges from a changing climate to the increasing loss of farmland that pose a real threat to the future of accessible and affordable food. The project was a way to bring this conversation to the masses. We wanted people to meet our farmers and learn how to support them.”
The documentary covers an indoor mushroom farm, foraging for edible plants in the Sonoran desert, generations-old Indigenous traditions, and the younger generation making their mark. You’ll also learn about the obstacles facing the “people who feed our state.”
The film involves more than 20 interviews including conversations with Barbara Eiswerth of Iskashitaa Refugee Network. The network is best known for its harvesting initiative, where volunteers and refugees work together to collect more than 100,000 pounds of surplus fruit, vegetables, and nuts annually from local trees, orchards, and farms.
Featured in the Documentary:
- Rodney Machokoto and family, Machokoto Farms
- Spaces of Opportunity
- Dr. Michael Kotutwa Johnson
- Stephen Jones, The Larder and the Delta
- Justin Beckett, Beckett’s Table
- Sara Dolan and David Vose, Blue Sky Farms
- Kathleen Yetman, Prescott Farmers Market
- Joseph Schaffer, Schaffer Farm
- Juan Aguiar Bravo and Keeton Aguiar, Blooming Reed Farm
- Bill Kerr, Kerr Family Dairy Farm – United Dairymen of Arizona
- Michael Crowe, Southwest Mushrooms
- Arnott Duncan, Duncan Family Farms
- Maria Parra Cano, Food Forest Cooperative and Sana Sana Foods
- Twila Cassadore
- Amelia Flores, CRIT Chairwoman
- Jason Reed, Tory Wilson, United Food Bank
- Barbara Eiswerth, Iskashitaa Refugee Network
- Jillian Robinson, Abdelgabar Mohamdian, New Roots at IRC
- Telena Jade Youvella, Rachel Noline San Carlos Apache Tribe Members
- Gabriel Cruz, Cruz Farm
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