As a planet and as a species, we’re facing a number of serious challenges. Graham Meriwether is dedicated to sharing stories with solutions to these problems. In 2007, he founded Leave It Better, a documentary production company focused on solutions. He directed Leave It Better’s first feature film, the documentary American Meat. It’s a pro-farmer look at the meat industry with a specific focus on the  growing grass-fed local agriculture underfoot. The film centers around the innovative production models at Virginia’s Polyface Farms and stars the lunatic farmer himself, Joel Salatin. Although the film championed grass-fed local meat production, it included stories of commodity production, and was respectful of all farmers. For this reason, it was widely embraced in rural America, and distributed to 75% of the FFA chapters in the United States. After attending 220 screenings of the film personally, and listening to people in those communities, Meriwether realized the greatest issue facing the nation’s agriculture was the fast approaching shortage of young farmers.

In 2014, he began production on Farmers For America. The documentary traces the extraordinary changes coming to America’s food system as more and more consumers flock to farmers’ markets, embrace farm-to-table lifestyles and insist on knowing where their food is coming from. At the center of the film are the farmers, young and old, who provide the spirit and energy to bring urban and rural America together over what both share in common:  our food. These farmers reflect nothing less than the face of America. With the average age of today’s farmer at 60, and rural America losing population as the cost of land and equipment soars, this film reveals the people waiting to take their place, the practices they’re championing and the obstacles they must overcome.

Meriwether lives in New York City with his wife, Susan, and their two children Abraham and Maya Lou. He is a founder of a non-profit, Leave It Better Foundation, that teaches thousands of New York City students both how to film and garden in classes that culminate in an annual film fest and salad-eating celebration at New York Botanical Garden. He’s excited and honored to share some thoughts about America’s agriculture at the VAFMA Shine Bright, Stand Out Conference.