Do you know what goes into the growing of those beautiful organic tomatoes that appear at the farmer’s market every summer? The documentary “The Organic Life” shows what it takes to sustain an organic farm and puts a face to your local farmer.

Unless you grew up on a farm or do a fair amount of backyard gardening, chances are you really don’t know what transpires in the 200-some days it takes to produce that heirloom tomato.

The film, produced by filmmaker Casey Beck, is a yearlong chronicle of the life of one young farmer, Austin Blair, whom Casey has since married.

Farmers like Austin are an increasingly rare breed, as fewer and fewer young men and women are choosing to make farming their livelihood. And given today’s challenges, it’s really no surprise that so few are returning to work the land.

In 1945, the average age of the American farmer was 39; today, it’s 55. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the number of farmers under the age of 45 dropped 14 percent between 2002 and 2007.¹

“The Organic Life” is a look at sustainable farming—not merely in terms of how they make the farm viable, but also how the farm sustains its keepers.

Organic Farming Can Only Be Described as a Labor of Love

Small organic farmers certainly don’t do it for the money—many live at or below the poverty line. Instead, they are driven by their passion for the organic lifestyle, real food, and their love of the earth.

When you work extraordinarily long hours for a pittance, being sustained by a deep passion for your work is an essential prerequisite.

California has been a major hub for young sustainable farming pioneers who seek to reclaim American soil. These farmers face increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and drought, pests, and eternally shifting markets.

They work year-round in rain, hail, or sweltering heat, six or seven days a week, seemingly impervious to sweat and blisters. Even with customers paying a premium for locally grown organic produce, most of these farms are barely able to keep going.

According to an article in Salon,² the USDA’s 2012 data indicated that intermediate sized farms—defined as those grossing between $10,000 and $250,000 per year—obtain only 10 percent of their income from the farm, and 90 percent from off-farm sources.

Something is wrong with a system in which nine out of 10 farmers must rely on an outside job, or a spouse’s outside job, to pay their basic living expenses—a system that places so little value on something as important as your food!

Yet, farmers like Austin love what they do and would not choose anything else. Farmers like him are carrying out a tradition that has nourished us for generations… and they go largely unappreciated.