When the smart money says sell, some fights are worth picking. In Melissa Bloom’s animated short The Farmer’s Daughter, a stubborn daughter takes on the fight of her family’s life—and her weapon of choice is dirt.
Our tale opens long ago on a patch of fertile land being grazed upon by good-sized bison. Many, many years later, a man will purchase the land and turn it into a profitable farm. At first, his venture is a success, but over time, the land becomes less and less fertile to the point that he has his first year of no harvest.
With the bills mounting, he is forced to put his land up for sale…with the help of a very slick real estate agent. But the farmer’s daughter has been reading books like Gabe Brown’s Dirt to Soil and Josh Tickell’s Kiss the Ground and may have a way to save the farm.
“Our tale opens long ago on a patch of fertile land being grazed upon by good-sized bison.”
If the book titles haven’t tipped you off, this is a story about regenerative farming—don’t till, plant cover crops, and let the land heal itself. Personally, I’m completely on the regenerative farming bandwagon, convinced that corporate monocrops are destroying the American farming industry. It can all be fixed and made even more profitable (steps down off the pulpit).
As for the film itself, I love stop-motion animation, as in The Farmer’s Daughter. I don’t know why animators keep doing it (I really do), since it’s a lot of hard, tedious work. Director Melissa Bloom put together incredibly detailed sets, costumes, and character animation. The movement (particularly in the background) is downright impressive.
In the end, it’s a great short film that could play in the classroom and at museum exhibits about farming and the land. Melissa Bloom’s The Farmer’s Daughter is a must-see.
"…When the smart money says sell, some fights are worth picking."
