Coming to Ground (2012)

No longer able to depend on centuries of growing tobacco as a cash crop, Kentucky farmers find the ground shifting under them; add rising energy costs, soil and water depletion, and climate change, this could be a moment of catastrophic change. Coming to Ground chronicles the struggles of farmers, government officials, and policymakers as they move away from dependency on the global tobacco and petroleum economies to a more sustainable and sane agricultural economy. Kentucky's farming and food culture has undergone a sea change. Although small farms and farmers continue to disappear, Kentucky ranks #2 in the U.S. for the number of small family farms. Over the last decade there has been an explosion of crop diversity, environmental innovation, sustainable and organic farms, along with sharp growth in farmer's markets, regional infra-structure and agricultural enterprise.