"Farmland" film opens in Minnesota

A new movie about life on the farm that features a young farm family in Southwest Minnesota opens at select theaters in Minnesota today.

“Farmland” is directed by Academy Award winner James Moll and looks at life on the farm through the eyes of young farmers and ranchers throughout the United States. You can catch the film at the following theaters today:

• Marcus Elk River Theatre
• Marcus Lakes Theatre — Hermantown
• Marcus Cineamas — Oakdale
• Marcus Theatre Parkwood — Waite Park

Tickets can be purchased online here. “Farmland” also will be shown at 7 p.m. on May 8 in the Twin Cities at the Landmark Lagoon Cinema in uptown Minneapolis. Tickets for the Twin Cities showing can be purchased here.

Ryan Veldhuizen and his three siblings, the fourth generation to farm land north of Edgerton, Minn., are one of the featured farm families in the film. Ryan recently spoke with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader about his participation in the film and how how America is losing its connection to the farm.

With fewer and fewer people living on farms or having family members there, it is important to remember that “food doesn’t just happen,” Veldhuizen said.

“It doesn’t just appear on the grocery store shelves. You rapidly lost the knowledge that food is still raised by people. You hear these horror stories (about large operations), and it gives you an impersonal view of farming. Quite honestly that’s not the case. It’s still people with families still raising food.”

Veldhulzen was also featured on WCCO.