PRODUCER/DIRECTORS -
JEAN DONOHUE and FRED JOHNSON

CONSULTING PRODUCER - GURNEY NORMAN

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY - MARK STUCKER

EDITORS - MIGUEL HUARCAYA and KEVIN LEWIS

COMING TO GROUND is a feature length documentary focused on the emergence on a new kind of agriculture in Kentucky.

Told through the voices of Kentucky farmers and agricultural thinkers, this is a story of how Kentucky agriculture survived catastrophic change and became a model for advancing a new farm culture and ultimately creating a new local food system.

Kentucky farming and food culture has undergone a sea change. Although small farms and farmers continue to disappear, Kentucky ranks 2nd in the U.S. in the number of small family farms, and there has been an explosion of sustainable and organic farms in Kentucky, along with steady growth in farmer’s markets, regional infra-structure, crop diversity, innovation and enterprises.

This documentary also confronts the interdependent global crises in agricultural, energy and climate change from the perspective of the struggles of Kentucky farmers, government officials and policy makers as they move away from dependency on the global tobacco and petroleum economies to a more sustainable and sane agricultural economy.

The work gives the viewer a glimpse of a sustainable agricultural future, and reason to hope it is attainable, through its portrayal of the efforts of the unlikeliest heroes—Kentucky farmers, writers, community food networkers, scientists, and policymakers – all dedicated to ‘coming to ground’ in order to create a new agriculture.