Little Pearls Productions - FARMER to FARMER

N. C. FARMERS' COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE TO
UK FARMERS / FOOT AND MOUTH EPIDEMIC

Little Pearls Productions, a non-profit video and television production company based in the Asheville area, has created a 60-second public service announcement and a mini-documentary for television in the UK. These spots offer a compassionate response from North Carolina farmers to the farmers in the UK, especially in England, whose lives have been devastated due to the foot and mouth epidemic.

Because many of these farmers were quarantined with their families on their farms, they were unable to receive the normal human contact we expect during times of hardship. Their herds of cows, sheep or pigs have been killed and livelihoods that have centered around farming for generations have been destroyed. Specially bred herds have been wiped out.

Debra Roberts and Linda McLean are filmmakers in Weaverville. Their company, Little Pearls, interviewed farmers from this immediate area to share words and images of compassion and encouragement for the farmers in the UK. These messages were sent to England for airing. Debra lived in Devon, England for 11 years. Devon is the heart of the dairy industry in the UK, and many of her old neighbors and acquaintances have been affected by this situation. Many sacred sites had been shut down there. Country walks were prohibited. People were not allowed to even walk their dogs freely. Isolation and despair were driving up the suicide rates. The financial toll has been enormous.

One of the few avenues of contact during such isolation is television. While many affected families were unable to receive visits from friends and family, they were able to watch TV. Thus, Little Pearls galvanized its resources to create these PSA's as conduits of verbal and visual support, so farmers and their families here could encourage farmers in the UK to hang in there and know that they were not alone.

Be sure to see:
Photographs & heartfelt messages from the farmers

from a Tuesday March 27, 2001 article in the Asheville Citizen Times

General Grant and Debra Roberts on the Farmer to Farmer shoot

Weaverville filmmakers raise funds for farmer-to-farmer foot and mouth sympathy project
By Barbara Blake, Staff Writer

ASHEVILLE – Debra Roberts understands that one individual can’t fix all the problems in the world. But she believes that if each individual did one small thing to help, many of the world’s tragedies might at least be a bit more bearable.

In a testament to that belief, Roberts, a filmmaker from Weaverville, has launched a project to send a "compassionate response’’ from Western North Carolina farmers to their counterparts in the United Kingdom, where foot and mouth disease has claimed thousands of head of livestock and virtually destroyed the farmers’ livelihoods.

Roberts and Linda McLean, her partner in the non-profit film production company called Little Pearls, are raising money to film and send three 60-second public service announcements to the United Kingdom, containing footage of local farmers expressing compassion and support for the UK farmers, many of them living in quarantine without human contact until the deadly disease is contained.

"While many affected families are unable to receive visits from friends and family, they are able to watch TV,’’ said Roberts, who lived in Devon, England, for 11 years. "Little Pearls has galvanized its resources to create these PSAs as avenues of verbal and visual support so that (local) farmers and their families can encourage farmers in the UK to hang in there and know that they are not alone.’’

The livestock disease that has devastated British agriculture has resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of hoofed animals, their carcasses dropped onto huge, burning pyres in an effort to contain the disease. Many farmers and their families have had their movements restricted, forbidden from leaving farms that have been contaminated with the disease.

"Because many of these farmers are quarantined with their families on their farms, they are unable to receive the normal human contact we expect during times of hardship,’’ Roberts said. "Their herds of cows, sheep or pigs have been killed, and news agencies report that these farms will be unable to introduce new herds for three to four years. Livelihoods that have centered around farming for generations have been destroyed.’’

John Ager, who with his wife Annie raises beef cattle and sheep in Fairview, said it would be difficult for non-farmers to relate to the devastation the UK farmers are enduring.

"Most regular people that aren’t farmers would have a hard time understanding … all of your animals are slaughtered and you wake up in the morning and you don’t know what to do with yourself – the farm is completely quiet,’’ said Ager, one of the farmers who participated in the PSA project.

"It’s such a way of life that you can’t quite understand it unless you’ve lived it,’’ he said.

Little Pearls, using filmmakers working for a fraction of their normal fee, has been interviewing farmers throughout Western North Carolina to send the messages of hope and encouragement to the farmers abroad within the next two weeks. Twenty to 25 farmers will be included on the three tapes.

The company is trying to raise $7,000 to $10,000 to defray the cost of the film crews, rental for editing equipment, batteries, shipping expenses and other costs associated with tapes appropriate for TV broadcast, Roberts said.

Any small effort, she said, is sure to help raise the spirits of farmers who must feel they have lost everything.

"The people who definitely have it (the disease) on their farms, they’re not letting them come off the property until they’ve dealt with it,’’ she said. "They’re dropping food off at the end of their lanes … my friend over there has a neighbor down the road who can’t leave to be with his mother who’s dying in Ireland, and he has to remain there until they give the go-ahead.’’

Roberts said she knows the PSAs aren’t a cure-all for the tragedy.

"There are a million difficult situations in the world, and I think that whatever comes our way as human beings … that’s the place to take responsibility,’’ she said. "If we’re all doing that, maybe we can cover all of life’s diverse situations.’’

BE SURE TO SEE THE PHOTOS AND MESSAGES FROM WNC FARMERS!