20 Documentaries to Watch About Food Sustainability
A sustainable agriculture documentary is a great way to learn more about this topic that affects us all. Whether you’re just flipping through your favorite streaming service looking for something to watch or passionate about change and looking for a way to learn more, these documentaries about food sustainability are for you.
A Place at the Table
Released: 2012
Running time: 1h 24m
Available from: Amazon Video, Hoopla, Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy, RedBox, Magnolia Selects, Pluto TV
This documentary about food insecurity intimately examines the life of the 49 million Americans who suffer from hunger or food insecurity. Learn about the daily struggles of those who may be in your neighborhood. While it’s not directly about sustainable agriculture, this documentary examines the consequences of our current food production system.
At the Fork
Released: 2016
Running time: 1h 29m
Available from: YouTube (free), Tubi, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Plex, Freevee
Documentarian John Papola attempts an unbiased look at livestock raised for food. He attempts to show the human side behind the factory farming operations and understand how the farmers of America are coping with the moral implications of their work.
Before the Plate
Released: 2018
Running time: 1h 35m
Available from: Roku, Tubi
Learn about how our favorite foods are produced, tracing them all the way back to their raw ingredients. This documentary will examine the challenges facing our modern agricultural systems.
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
Released: 2014
Running time: 1h 30m
Available from: Amazon Video, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Netflix, YouTube
Kip Andersen investigates and confronts the animal agriculture industry in the hopes of securing a more sustainable future. This sustainable agriculture documentary touches on “rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill.”
Dolores
Released: 2017
Running time: 1h 35m
Available from: Rent from Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, Vudu
Dolores Huerta was an agricultural and feminist activist who helped Cesar Chavez start the US’s first farm worker’s union. Follow her story as she fights for race, class, and gender rights, all while raising 11 children. While Dolores wasn’t specifically targeting ecology, most of the deplorable working conditions she fought against can be solved by sustainable farming practices.
Earthlings
Released: 2005
Running time: 1h 35m
Available from: Not currently available online.
Joaquin Phoenix stars in this film that is part documentary, part horror movie. The film attempts to cover humanity’s dependance on animals and all of the implications of our dependence. You’ll examine pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, animal shelters, and industries like leather trade, sports and entertainment, and so much more.
Fish & Men
Released: 2019
Running time: 1h 25 min
Available from: Tubi, Pluto TV
Fish & Men is an internationally acclaimed documentary that attempts to understand the high cost of inexpensive seafood. It delves into current threats to local fishing communities and the problems surrounding the global seafood economy.
Follow the Food
Released: 2019
Running time: 3 seasons, 24 episodes
Available from: BBC Website
This BBC docuseries offers an examination of our food chain from its roots. From their site, “Follow the Food – a multimedia series by BBC Future and BBC World News – investigates how farmers, researchers and innovators are working to secure a sustainable long-term future for the global food supply chain.”
Food and Country
Released: 2023
Running time: 1h 40m
Available from: Not currently available online.
This documentary seeks to understand how cheap food is produced and its impact on independent farmers, ranchers, and chefs. It’s an in-depth look at the US’s broken food system and how a select few are working to correct it.
Food for Change
Released: 2020
Running time: 55m
Available from: Kanopy
Food for Change discusses how the way we eat impacts global climate change. Benoît Bringer is an investigative journalist searching for ways to reinvent our diets in a more sustainable way.
Food Fighter
Released: 2018
Running time: 1h 26m
Available from: Not currently available online.
Ronni Kahn, CEO of OzHarvest, is on a crusade to end food waste, or at least reduce how much food Australians waste each year. From the halls of royalty to dumpster bins full of refuse, she takes you on a tour of the wasteful way we consume (and destroy) food.
Honeyland
Released: 2019
Running time: 1h 29m
Available from: Max, Kanopy, DirecTV
A documentary from Macedonia about one beekeeper’s struggle to save the wild bees of her home region, this cautionary tale shows the dangers of exploitation of natural resources, climate change, and biodiversity loss. While Honeyland doesn’t specifically explore sustainable agriculture, it does show what can happen when we don’t work to preserve and support the natural resources all around us.
In Our Hands
Released: 2018
Running time: 1h 7m
Available from: Vimeo
Not to be confused with the documentary about Jerusalem of the same name, In Our Hands is a story about UK farmers. These men and women are seizing the opportunities presented by Brexit to escape the world of industrial farming and seek a more sustainable future.
King Corn
Released: 2007
Running time: 1h 30m
Available from: Pluto TV
King Corn attempts to make sense of how one commodity, corn, has taken over the agricultural landscape of the US. Corn is heavily subsidized in our country, so two college buddies set out to grow an acre of the crop and learn all they can along the way.
Kiss the Ground
Released: 2020
Running time: 1h 25m
Available from: Netflix
What could our world become if farming could be not only sustainable but actually regenerative? Follow the regenerative agriculture movement with narration from Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Gisele Bündchen, and other celebrity contributors.
Life in Syntropy
Released: 2015
Running time: 15m 29s
Available from: YouTube
A short film made for COP21 in Paris, Life in Syntropy explores the Syntropic Agriculture movement through Latin America and beyond. This sustainable farming method seeks to turn degraded land into useful and beneficial agroforests and has already converted over 1200 acres of land in Brazil.
Meat the Future
Released: 2020
Running time: 1h 28m
Available from: Tubi, Eventive
This film offers an in-depth look at our industrial animal agriculture and its impacts, and offers a solution. You’ll explore the future of “cultured” meat and the way it could change our world.
Modified
Released: 2017
Running time: 1h 26m
Available from: Not currently available online.
This feature-length film is a first-person look at why GMOs are not labeled in the US and Canada. It shows the personal journey of a decade and makes the case for a more transparent food culture.
Plant This Movie
Released: 2014
Running time: 1h 23m
Available from: Roku, Tubi, Realeyz, Plex, Flix Fling
This documentary examines the urban farming movement as it takes hold in cities around the globe. Travel from Havana to New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Shanghai, Calcutta, Addis Ababa, London, and more. See the inspiring success of farms carved out in the midst of urbanization and learn the secrets to local farming in even the most densely populated areas of the world.
SEED: The Untold Story
Released: 2016
Running time: 1h 34m
Available from: Peacock, Tubi, Kanopy, Plex, Popflick
This film seeks to spread the word and understand how 94% of our global seed diversity has vanished. You’ll learn how and why farmers, scientists, and other biodiversity heroes are seeking to flip the script on biotech chemical companies who control our seeds.
Sacred Cow: The Nutritional, Environmental and Ethical Case for Better Meat
Released: 2020
Running time: 1h 20m
Available from: Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy
This documentary takes a stance that meat can be healthy for both humans and the environment, when livestock is raised properly. Filmmakers argue that a “healthy, sustainable and conscientious food system” can include beef cattle.
Sustainable
Released: 2016
Running time: 1h 32m
Available from: Peacock, Roku, Tubi, Kanopy, Plex
Experts analyze the food and agricultural systems of the US alongside a personal story from a farmer dedicated to a more sustainable future. The film addresses problems including climate change, soil degradation, pesticides, and water loss.
The Need to Grow
Released: 2018
Running time: 1h 36m
Available from: Kanopy
Our topsoil is depleting at an alarming rate, and this film estimates that we only have about 60 years of farmable earth left. Narrator Rosario Dawson takes us on a journey to learn about the activists and innovators working to solve this problem.
Wasted! The Story of Food Waste
Released: 2017
Running time: 1h 30m
Available from: Hulu, Kanopy
An optimistic look at the waste prevalent in our food system and how we can make the most of our food. Anthony Bourdain discusses the problem with famous chefs from around the world as they demonstrate ways to use “scraps” as they create delicious meals.