Paradise Valley explores the urgent need for agricultural reform to address climate change, focusing on three distinct locations: Montana, Detroit, and Arizona.
Paradise Valley explores the urgent need for agricultural reform to address climate change, focusing on three distinct locations: Montana, Detroit, and Arizona. The film follows the lives of farmers, ranchers, and urban agriculturalists as they transition toward regenerative agricultural practices, balancing economic viability with environmental responsibility.
The film begins in Paradise Valley, Montana, where multi-generational farmers Vern and Ford Smith lead the movement to adopt sustainable farming techniques, demonstrating how regenerative agriculture can preserve rural livelihoods while combating climate change. In Detroit, the focus shifts to urban farming in the historically Black neighborhood of Paradise Valley, where communities are cultivating sustainable food systems to combat food deserts and empower their communities. Finally, the film travels to Paradise Valley, Arizona, where the struggle for fair labor practices in industrial agriculture takes center stage, showing how food system reform must include the fair treatment of farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants.
The film unites diverse communities by focusing on common ground—concerns for economic sustainability, environmental stewardship, and resistance to corporate monopolies in agriculture. Paradise Valley reveals how regenerative farming practices can heal both the land and the people who depend on it. Through personal stories and a focus on economic practicality, the film aims to inspire a movement toward a more equitable and sustainable food system.
This project is being made in partnership with the Doc Society and with the generous support of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, an independent philanthropic organization that works with a wide range of partners to transform the lives of children and adolescents worldwide.