Since food is something that every person needs every day, even small shifts in the way it is produced, transported and marketed can have big impacts. The localization of our food systems is possibly the single most important strategy for building new economic models that benefit both people and planet.

For a while now, the average age of farmers worldwide has hovered around 60 years old. As the older generations of farmers retire, the question grows more pressing: who will grow the food of the future, and what will their farms look like?

Fortunately, a small but growing number of young people around the world have begun to renew their interest in farming, and they’re likely to have smaller, more diversified, less chemical dependent and more community-oriented farms than the generation preceding them. Not only that, but a surprising number of people with college degrees and “prestigious” desk jobs are leaving urban areas and returning to the land.

For this week — week 1 of our 7 week series on food — we’ve chosen a selection of inspiring short films from the USA, Canada, China, India, Thailand and Australia that offer a glimpse into small diverse farming operations around the world.

And now… here are the films for Week 1. Enjoy!

“We are not brought up on farms…but even if you go back only a few generations you begin to realize it [farming] is in all of us, it is our roots…I found academia was a lot of talking and not a lot of activity.. …I am creating something amazing [now]…”