Doug Darrow.
Sometimes realizing we are hypocrites is the first step.
The summer of 2011 was one of massive change. Leave It Better’s first documentary American Meat was released. Instead of applying to film festivals, we decided to travel across America and rent out art theaters and sell tickets for $10 a pop. It was exhilirating and terrifying.
One summer day in Iowa City, we rented out an auditorium at the University of Iowa. After the film, a fellow with salt and pepper hair came up to me so excited- Doug Darrow. He’d recently read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and decided to abandon a lifetime of conventional farming to start a locally-sourcing grass-based farm: Rapid Creek Ranch.
With theater rentals, usually the best way to make your rental fee back is to do more than one screening during the alotted time. With that strategy in mind, I did two screenings that day. Little did I know, that Doug would attend both screenings, and bring his stepson Justin, and farming partner, along for the second one.
Their passion for farming was contagious. I knew I had to come back and film with both of them.
In February 2012, I came back, this time with a small film crew- myself and Andy Trimbach- and we started filming portraits with farmers across the state of Iowa. The idea was to get to know the people better who grow our food. To listen to their thoughts and dreams, to listen to their philosophies on life.
Doug’s story has always stuck out to me. Perhaps because one of his major turning points was a moment when he realized he was a hypocrite. After decades of struggling to make ends meet in the commodity agricultural system, he realized that he has been devoting his life to making other companies richer, that he had been putting his personal dreams on hold, to fill the coffers of an unappreciative and often anonymous multinational.
(The link below is an original rough portrait of Doug Darrow, part of a larger collection of portraits from our upcoming documentary Farming. It is our October Fortnight Film, and is a perk for paid subscribers)
