sf commons San Francisco's public access television station, operated by BAVC

A 2009 BAVC Producers Institute Project

Project Director: Alejandro de Onis

In the documentary American Meat, producer (Alejandro de Onis) and director (Graham Meriwether) explore the impact of the recent economic downturn on industrial agriculture, and how one farmer in Virginia, Joel Salatin, is leading a small but growing group of farmers who are looking to expand the influence of local small-scale farms. The film explores how the agricultural industry has brutalized the food production process, and become America’s #1 polluter. At the Producers Institute, De Onis and his team architected a plan to bring farmers and communities to a “digital dinner table” by integrating the film within an e-commerce and social networking context. Through an innovative, web-based regional food network and market place (an EBAYfor the local food movement) called Harvest Cloud, consumers will be able to easily source and purchase local organic food, connect with food producers, and help local food movements proliferate and thrive. Connected to Harvest Cloud is Leave It Better, a youtube-style portal for the green movement where participants are encouraged to post and share videos documenting what they have done to leave their communities better. This site is “seeded” by a collection of flip cameras that will be given to participants around the country, and then “flipped” to others to document their own inspirational green activities.