On Monday evening, Sept. 21, Food Tank will host a food and agriculture film festival during Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with Kat Taylor, President of TomKat Foundation; Halter; The Henry Ford; The Rockefeller Foundation; and Groundswell.
The invitation-only festival will feature a screening of Food Tank’s first original documentary film, “Irish Farmers: A Love Story,” which follows three Irish farmers across three generations.
“Farmers are storytellers. There is a love story in every practice of agriculture, and as we face an increasingly mechanized world, stories coming from the heart is the path towards a more sustainable, prosperous, and empathetic future,” says Director Haven Worley.
“It is an honor to be part of a story bigger than ourselves and to come together in a festival that highlights farmers, advocates, artists, ranchers, and community members as the storytellers of a resilient climate future.”
Through film and conversation with filmmakers, farmers, and food system leaders, the event will explore the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of agriculture while celebrating storytelling as a catalyst for education, connection, and action.
“We believe there is real opportunity for innovation in our food system, and we’re seeing it happen in communities across the country,” says Spence Medford, Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer at The Henry Ford, a national cultural and educational institution that uses the stories of American innovation and ingenuity to inspire people to imagine a better future.
The evening will kick off with a clip from “Farm to School Lunch Across America,” The Henry Ford’s film capturing a national school-supported agriculture initiative, which uses school food dollars to buy fresh, nutritious food from local and regional farmers and producers. “It means better food and better fuel for the next generation, while supporting farmers who are taking care of the land and creating a dependable market for what they grow,” says Medford.
“Through our Farm to School Lunch Across America initiative and new documentary, we’re bringing people together and sharing the stories of the school meal leaders, farmers and chefs who are already showing us what’s possible.”
This will be followed by a fireside chat with clips from “Language of the Land,” a film showing how Oklahoma ranchers Zach and Kacie Scherler-Abney embraced technology to achieve environmental and economic sustainability.
“For Zach and Kacie, what started as a personal health journey quickly became a soil health journey; a testament to their commitment to producing healthy and nutritious beef in harmony with the landscape they ranch on,” says Mikaele Ymker, Sustainability Lead at Halter. “Learning and mentorship are at the heart of Zach and Kacie’s ranching philosophy … We hope the audience will come away with an understanding of how ranchers are developing solutions that balance economics and ecology, without compromising their quality of life.”
Another discussion will feature clips from “Groundswell,” an award-winning environmental documentary following farmers, scientists, and Indigenous leaders who are rebuilding topsoil, restoring ecosystems, drawing down carbon, and fighting desertification across five continents.
“The films at this festival bring overdue visibility to the farmers and ranchers who feed us, regeneratively steward the soil, and are often the bedrock of local communities. We are bringing those stories to the fore and helping people see that agriculture writ large could be so much more than what currently ends up on grocery store shelves,” says Kat Taylor, President of TomKat Foundation.
“Regenerative agriculture, to us, is the largest delta solution to climate change, quelling up to 30-40% of global greenhouse gases, while re-sequestering 200 gigatons of carbon every decade in American acreage alone. I hope audiences leave as inspired as I have been by the glimpse these films give us into the way farmers and ranchers are already showing us what a new-old economy rooted in community, resilience, and care for the land and each other can look like.”
The evening’s final discussion will include clips from “Food 2050,” a documentary film narrated and executive produced by Academy Award winner Viola Davis that explores how to sustainably feed a projected global population of 10 billion people by the year 2050.
“The vast majority of films and books set in the future offer a dystopian nightmare – a world no one hopes becomes real. By giving such little creative effort to imagining the future we actually want, the hope we need to write a better tomorrow feels like it’s dwindling,” says Sara Farley, Regenerative School Meals Co-Lead and Vice President for the Food Team at The Rockefeller Foundation.
“Food 2050 proves that when invited and empowered, communities are ready to put forward inspirational, transformational and totally feasible blueprints for the year 2050 that show we can live connected to food systems that are nourishing, regenerative and equitable.”
The event will begin at 6:30pm at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City, with food, drinks, and live musical performances. A reception will follow, with programming concluding at 9:45pm.
Speakers include Xiye Bastida, Climate Justice Activist, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Re-Earth Initiative; Sweta Chakraborty, CEO of North America, We Don’t Have Time; Mary Culler, President, Ford Philanthropy; Sara Farley, Regenerative School Meals Co-Lead and Vice President for the Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation; Spence Medford, Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer, The Henry Ford; Helen Moore, VP of Commercial Strategy, Halter; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Kacie Scherler-Abney, Fifth-Generation Rancher, Scherler-Abney Land & Cattle; Zach Scherler-Abney, Rancher, Scherler-Abney Land & Cattle; Jennifer Sherman, Program Director, Alice Waters Institute; Kat Taylor, Founder, TomKat Ranch and TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation; Rebecca Harrell Tickell, Director and Producer, Groundswell; and Haven Worley, Director, Irish Farmers: A Love Story.
The Food and Agriculture Film Festival will also feature a special musical performance by Brandon Burks, a Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently in the new show Midnight. He will be joined by Elijah Caldwell, an OBIE Award-winning actor, singer, pianist, and music director whose credits include A Strange Loop Off-Broadway and the national tour of Shucked.
This summit will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2026.
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