film

Broken Limbs: Apples, Agriculture, and the New American Farmer

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Producer(s)	Jamie Howell, Guy Evans
Release Date	2004
Work In Progress	n
Runtime	57 min
Youth Media	n

Film Description

Wenatchee, Washington, the “Apple Capital of the World”; this pastoral valley in the heart of the Northwest prospered for nearly a century as home to the famed Washington apple. But the good times have vanished. Apple orchardists by the thousands are going out of business and thousands more await the dreaded letter from the bank, announcing the end of their livelihoods and a uniquely American way of life.

After his own father receives just such a letter, filmmaker Guy Evans sets out on a journey to find out what went wrong here in this natural Garden of Eden. Over the course of filming, Evans witnesses small farmers struggling to compete against the Goliaths that populate today's global economy, only to be ultimately forced off their land. The future looks grim for the Apple Capital until Evans happens upon an entirely new breed of farmer, practitioners of a new model called “sustainable agriculture”.

Broken Limbs explores these hopeful stirrings within agriculture, outlining ways in which any individual can play a role in saving America's farmers.