Kiss the Ground

Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell (2020, U.S., 84 min.) + post-film discussion

Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell’s Kiss the Ground offers hope for the future as it explores innovative ways farmers and communities are redesigning their agricultural systems to restore the soil health, save our topsoil, address climate change, and make our food systems more sustainable. After exploring the history of how our current agricultural system has jeopardized the long-term health of our soil–the basis of all agriculture–the filmmakers take us on a tour around the globe, from North Dakota to China, to find practitioners incorporating new and old solutions to address soil health. Along the way, this may also be one of our most important solutions to keeping carbon in the ground and out of the atmosphere, mitigating the climate crisis that also threatens our food systems. Following the film we will have a post-film panel discussion facilitated by the Student Farm Club and featuring local champions of sustainable agriculture.

(Shown in partnership with the Student Farm Club at Penn State)