Rick Clark, founder of Farm Green and a prominent regenerative farmer from Indiana, found himself eagerly anticipating the return of Farm Aid to his home state on February 25th.

The occasion marked the Indiana premiere of the film Common Ground, a highly anticipated sequel to the widely acclaimed Kiss the Ground, which had a profound impact on over 1 billion viewers worldwide and spurred the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allocate $20 billion toward soil health initiatives.

Directed and produced by the esteemed filmmakers Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell, known for their works like “Fuel” and “The Big Fix,” the award-winning Common Ground had emerged as one of the top 10 highest-grossing limited-release feature documentaries of 2023.

Narrated by a star-studded cast including Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Rosario Dawson, Ian Somerhalder, Woody Harrelson, and Donald Glover, the film skillfully intertwined investigative journalism with poignant personal narratives from frontline advocates of the food movement.

It laid bare the intricate web of money, power, and politics that perpetuates the flaws in our broken food system, shedding light on the unjust practices that have shaped our current agricultural landscape, where farmers from diverse backgrounds are grappling with dire consequences while endeavoring to feed the population sustainably.