Sustainable

Among the many documentaries about the relationship between humans and our food sources, Sustainable stands out for being particularly optimistic. Filmmaker Matt Wechsler reminds viewers—through interviews with a number of agriculture experts—that it was only a half-century ago when nearly all food sources for Americans were locally grown on family farms, largely free of toxins and bio-engineering. Those traditions are therefore within living memory, and are being revived by today's “conventional” family farmers. Although Wechsler enlists several famous chefs (including Rick Bayless and Dan Barber) and former New York Times food writer Mark Bittman to help build the case for small, organic farms playing a stronger role, most of the film focuses on the work of congenial Illinois farmer Marty Travis, whose success with a mere 160 acres is a model of remarkably productive, versatile, and profitable farming that begins with good stewardship of the soil and intelligent seasonal rotation of crops. But even more interesting is Travis's dedication to the needs and desires of food consumers in his own community and nearby Chicago. When Bayless loses a longtime source for a particular type of corn, for instance, Travis starts growing it for him. When Travis's son asks if they can revive the cultivation of maple syrup—a lucrative practice abandoned by Travis's parents during a hard time—the answer is yes. It's that kind of responsiveness that results in Travis supplying 300 restaurants and markets with his yields, and encourages him to create a cooperative with other struggling family farmers in the area. Wechsler's interviews with various researchers undercut myths that organic farming can never feed the entire world, while a scientist who had been a proponent of “big agriculture” in the 1960s now admits that it was a disastrous, community-destroying idea. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)