A biology teacher would hope that Grow!, a short film about young adults choosing an agrarian over a modern, urban life would change his or her students’ perspectives on many things. Christine Anthony and Owen Masterson teamed up with Georgia Organics, a farmer advocacy group, to portray fellow farmers toiling on their own small, organic farms in Georgia. The stars of this documentary lead the phalanx of the food movement: they consciously turn to agriculture when farmers are getting older and older, the environment is becoming more unpredictable, and the economy is becoming less and less promising.
After screening this 60-minute film during a double period, my high school biology class (mainly sophomores) came away with little more than the impression that these farmers realized that life is short and were making the most of their own lives. It is difficult for an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse student body...
University of California Press