Film Screening: Under Contract

For the first time in a full-length documentary, contract farmers tell their stories, and industry experts reveal how the corporate production model pits farmer against farmer. Under Contract: Farmers and the Fine Print takes audiences across the American South and to Southern India to understand what’s happening to farmers living under contract and what we can do to change our food system for the better. The story of the contract farmer is the story of what’s changing in rural America.

Power in agriculture is changing hands, but few people know what’s happening to the farmers producing our food. Under Contract tells this story through the lens of global poultry farming. In the U.S. alone, 97% of the chicken produced is raised by family farmers under contract with large companies. Around the world and all across agriculture, contract farming is taking hold. But farmers who sign contracts often face unfair challenges and hidden risks under the terms offered by large firms. Under Contract provides a timely glimpse into the little understood fine print of modern agriculture.