Lind documentary showing this weekend

RITZVILLE - A documentary starring two Lind farmers and the Lind Combine Derby will be presented Thursday through Saturday at the Ritz Theatre, 107 East Main Ave.

The curtain will go up at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and at 2 p.m. Saturday. The producers/directors, Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm, will attend the Thursday and Friday showings, and Josh Knodel and Matt Miller and members of their families will be at all three showings. The film features Knodel and Miller, following them over a 10-year period.

"Dryland" details the stories of Knodel and Miller, their families, their dryland wheat farms and the popular combine derby.

The filmmakers met Knodel and Miller, then teenagers, during research at the combine derby, Arbuthnot said. That first year was Knodel's first chance to drive in the derby; Miller was the pit crew, she said.

The filmmakers got interested in the larger story of 21st Century farming, how technology in particular has impacted farms and farm towns. "We realized this story was a lot deeper," Arbuthnot said.

So they followed the two men for a decade, through college and into the workforce. Miller came back to Lind and is in charge of his family's farm. Knodel wanted to work the farm, but for a while the property wasn't big enough to support the extended family, and he took a job out of state, she said.

Eventually the family acquired more land and Knodel is back with the operation. The story of the two families is representative of a lot of farms and farm families, she said.

One of the themes of the film is the affect of technology and a changing economy on farming. As technology improved, farming required less people but substantial capital investment, which accelerated the tendency toward consolidation, according to the documentary's website.

The ripple effect hits the surrounding towns, as their customers move away, and eventually the towns lose businesses. Yet alongside the challenges are innovation and commitment to agriculture, Arbuthnot said.

The filmmakers are working to schedule a showing of "Dryland" in Moses Lake, probably in the fall, she said.