Entry Eight: Theorizing the Farm Through

John Peterson and The Real Dirt on Farmer John

The farm is a place of community and diversity. John Peterson speaks to this in The Real Dirt on Farmer John, a quirky documentary about his life and struggles as a farmer. According to the film, farms thrive when diverse elements are incorporated (i.e. different plants, people, etc.) and when the community works together. This is evident throughout his film, but is especially potent in the final scenes of the narrative when Peterson’s CSA community band together to purchase expansion land for the farm and help erect a new barn. 

Peterson further comments that his failing farm could not be successful until he moved away from planting only four crops to planting thirty. He brought different kind of animals, fruits and vegetables, and flowers and began to “blend diverse elements into a whole.” This, he notes, “[began] to heal the farm.” In doing so, John Peterson illustrates to viewers that good farms foster diversity and community.