Season 5, Episode 3 - “Only as good as the organizing that accompanies it”: Filmmaking as Food System Solidarity, a Conversation with Raj Patel

Season 5 Episode 3 – “Only as good as the organizing that accompanies it”: Filmmaking as Food System Solidarity, a Conversation with Raj Patel 

Featuring: Raj Patel  

In this special episode of Handpicked: Stories from the Field, we sit down with renowned author, activist, and filmmaker Raj Patel for an intimate, wide-ranging conversation about food justice, climate change, and solidarity across difference. The discussion takes listeners behind the scenes of his decade-long documentary project The Ants and the Grasshopper, co-directed with Zak Piper and centered on the powerful leadership of Malawian farmer and activist Anita Chitaya, and the work of Soils, Food, & Healthy Communities.  

This episode explores how farmer-led agroecology, gender justice, and climate action are deeply intertwined. Raj reflects on the challenges and lessons of creating a truly participatory and decolonizing filmmaking process, one that ultimately shifted creative control toward Anita herself demonstrating a more ethical approach to telling stories from the Global South. The conversation dives into key themes raised by the film: the gendered burdens of food and care work, the links between climate change and domestic violence, and the role of religion, race, and class in shaping food systems politics.  

Listeners also hear about the film’s impact beyond the screen, from grassroots screenings in churches and social movements to its use as a tool for organizing. Throughout the episode, Raj emphasizes that real change comes not from individual actions or pity, but from collective organizing, movement-building, and an ethic of mutual liberation. 

 

Contributors 

Co-Producers & Hosts: Dr. Laine Young & Dr. Charlie Spring  

Sound Design & Editing: Laine Young 

 

Guests 

Raj Patel 

 

Support & Funding 

Wilfrid Laurier University 

The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems 

Balsillie School for International Affairs  

 
Music Credits 

Keenan Reimer-Watts 

 

Resources

Soils, Food & Healthy Communities (please support if you can)

The Ants & the Grasshopper Film Website

Film Trailer

Where to Watch

Apple TV

Kanopy

Hoopla

Organizations/Projects

La Via Campesina (international food sovereignty movement)

MST (Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement)

International Shack Dwellers Movement

National Family Farm Coalition

National Farmers Union

National Black Food & Justice Alliance

Voicing Change

Further Reading

Patel, R., & Goodman, J. (2020). The Long New Deal. Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(3), 431–463. 

Lentz, E., Beznwe Kerr, R., Patel, R., Dakishoni, L., & Lupafya, E. (2018). The invisible hand that rocks the cradle: On the limits of time use surveys. Development and Change, 50, 301-328.

 

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Glossary of Terms  

Agroecology 
A way of farming that combines ecological science with farmer knowledge, emphasizing sustainability, biodiversity, and social justice. 

Climate Justice 
The idea that climate change is not just environmental, but social and political, with the greatest harms often falling on those least responsible. 

Decolonizing Storytelling / Filmmaking 
Practices that shift power over narratives toward the communities represented, challenging extractive or colonial approaches to media. 

Food Justice 
An approach to food systems that focuses on equity, who has access to good food, who produces it, and how power shapes those realities. 

Food Sovereignty  
The right of people and communities to define their own food systems, including cultural foodways, land access, and governance. 

https://viacampesina.org/en/what-is-food-sovereignty/ 

Global North / Global South 
Terms describing global inequalities rooted in colonialism, where wealth and power are unevenly distributed. 

La Vía Campesina 
A global movement of peasants and farmers advocating for food sovereignty and agrarian justice.  

https://viacampesina.org/en/international-peasants-voice/

Mutual Liberation 
The principle that justice and freedom are interconnected. No group can be free while others are oppressed.  

Patriarchy 
Social systems in which power is largely held by men, shaping inequalities in labor, decision-making, and control over resources. 

Reproductive Labor (Care Work) 
Often unpaid or undervalued work (cooking, caregiving, and subsistence farming) that sustains households and communities. 

Solidarity 
Collective action rooted in shared struggle and mutual responsibility, not charity or pity. 

 

Discussion Questions

1. How does the film challenge conventional representations and documentaries of hunger and food insecurity, especially in the Global South? 

2. “You can’t tackle hunger without tackling gender inequality”. How does the Ants and the Grasshopper convey different threads of Anita’s story (e.g. her marriage, her journey to America) to reveal connections between patriarchy, food systems, and racial capitalism (a framework asserting that capitalism is inherently dependent on racism)?  

3. How does Anita organize effectively for change across the huge geographical and wealth gaps evident in the film? For example, what is the role of religion? How can discomfort and difference be leveraged as potent nodes for conversation and change? 

4. What does it mean to be an activist for just food systems, for a liveable planet? What is the role for feelings of pity or even empathy, and how can we move beyond this towards solidarity or ‘mutual liberation’? What is the role for social movements? And what does Raj mean by saying ‘to be an activist is to liberate yourself’?