GROW!

Bucolic scenes of misty mornings in the fields, healthy animals, and thriving green vegetables abound in GROW!, a likable exploration of a new generation of youthful organic farmers making a go of it on a dozen farms in Georgia. But while filmmakers Christine Anthony and Owen Masterson's documentary is intended to be inspiring, it also presents some cautionary notes: many of the young subjects, starry-eyed and in love with the land, cannot afford their own acreage and are either renting or in some symbiotic relationship with a mentor or an institution, such as a church or a school. Many look to older farmers for guidance, and they tend to rely on apprentices for cheap labor. Still, the passion these young people have for the earth and its bounty are contagious. As one of the folks at Serenbe Farms in Chattahoochee Hills puts it, “Farming wouldn't be as fun without the challenges.” The new farmers have left fields as diverse as law, medicine, and physics to be proponents of organic agriculture, and the stories they share here are uplifting. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Gardner)