For my project Learning from the Grassroots, I am looking for committed female organic farmers in India, who want to show their attitude in a video interview. This is not only about formal interviews, where only talking takes place but also the environment of the interviewees and their network should be presented. For female organic farmers, this is a good way to introduce their own farm, and thus attract the interest of new employees or large customers.
Through the video interviews and the story in which they are embedded, not only professional knowledge, technical expertise, networking strategies, and successful marketing practices can be presented, but above all the personal and collective transformation process can be reflected.
An important part of the video documentation is also the interaction with the organic farmer’s network and a ’network walk‘, where either the most important topics of the interviews can be discussed further with members of the network, or farmers in the area can be visited, to talk about their struggle with dependencies from seed- and pesticide companies and local difficulties, or farmers can talk about innovative solutions to deal with environmental or social problems.
My plan is to produce interviews and ’network portraits‘ in India in Spring 2024 (March to June – starting in Kerala, traveling to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh), as a lot is happening in India at the grassroots level right now.
Benefits for female organic farmers:
- Showing attitude (What does it mean to me / to us to live the terrestrial attitude consistently?)
- Positioning as an expert (… and thereby possibly attracting committed employees or new customers)
- Reflecting on one’s own practices and experiences (by looking at things from the outside)
- Strengthening grassroots connections (cooperation and solidarity rather than competition).
- Educating consumers about the value of organic agriculture
- Reflecting on common policy options for action at the grassroots level.
Time required
The whole video will be produced in a time span of ten to fourteen days:
- The video interview itself takes about two hours
- Another part is the presentation of the farm, where video and sound recordings (with a camera microphone and a tiny lapel microphone) are made
- Filming of daily activities or scenes that represent the transformation of the organic farmer and her network
- Visiting neighbors who are part of the organic farmer’s network or not
- The joint ‚exploration walk‘ with the organic farmer’s network is also filmed