Greener Pastures

American farmers have faced historic hardships from the Great Depression to the 1980s farming crisis. Now, a combination of climate change and the pandemic has increased economic uncertainty and isolation, resulting in a grave mental health crisis. This essential industry is at a crossroads, endangering the lives and livelihoods of American farmers and the nation’s food supply.

Greener Pastures follows a group of Midwestern farmers on four multigenerational family farms over several years. Jeff Ditzenberger is a corn and soybean farmer who tried to end his own life years ago. Today, he runs a nonprofit, talking to farmers across the Midwest about mental health and suicide prevention. Jay Simeral is a sixth-generation farmer. With his wife Melissa, the family navigates financial struggles and successes, including competition from larger farms, bankruptcy, and the difficult decision to allow fracking on their land. Chris Petersen is a livestock farmer lobbying tirelessly for farmers’ rights. His daughter Becky Higgins runs a small sustainable farm with her husband. She was elected District Soil and Water Commissioner in the fall of 2020, continuing her father’s political legacy. Juliette Albrecht is a dairy farmer in Minnesota. Once a dairy show competitor, she now struggles with alcoholism but is getting better through rehab. Faced with increasing rent and covid-based industry disruptions, she is forced to move to another farm.

The film examines the policies, politics, and obstacles farmers endure. It is a story of perseverance and survival within the farming industry in the heartland of the United States.