The Last Crop

Gr 10 Up—Designed for classroom use, this presentation focuses on the need to protect viable land resources to sustain adequate food production. A 20-acre organic farm is featured in this documentary that revolves around aging land owners and their desire to prevent their land from being swallowed by real estate investors if their children do not follow in their farming footsteps. Their hopeful solution is to establish an easement, a legal document that would require the land to remain in crop production regardless of who owns it in the future. The easement is an extremely expensive, legally untried method of preservation. Though this film takes place in California's Central Valley, the information is applicable all across the United States. The documentary begins in 2009 and concludes in 2013, with no solution in sight. The presentation is divided into 16 segments, which will encourage discussion. When statistics are given, sources are listed. The story is somewhat slow (farming is not a fast process), so students may find it difficult to stay with it.