A new TV documentary series from the Church News goes around the world to show the welfare farms and the welfare food processing and distribution facilities owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series also features AgReserves, the commercial arm of Farmland Reserve, which is an investment affiliate of the Church.
The three-part series, titled “Harvest of Faith,” is part of the "Living Record: A Church News Documentary Series.” The first episode is scheduled to air on BYUtv on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 9 a.m. Mountain Time, with episodes 2 and 3 to follow in the coming weeks.
In addition to the TV episodes, the Church News will have a three-part series of articles.
The series features interviews with Bishop W. Christopher Waddell and Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Presiding Bishopric; Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson; Blaine Maxfield, managing director of Welfare and Self-Reliance Services; and Doug Rose, president and CEO of AgReserves and Farmland Reserve.
Viewers and readers will meet and get to know the employees, volunteers, missionaries and others who work at these farms and facilities. In parts one and two they will see how this work fulfills the Church’s welfare efforts to care for those in need and build self-reliance. In part three, they will learn more about the for-profit investment farms around the world with AgReserves.
Said Rose, “I hope viewers see the light in the faces and in the lives of the people who are benefited and blessed by the work we do.”
Part 1: Welfare farms
Throughout part one, viewers and readers will see a year’s worth of experiences on some of the Church’s welfare farms — from planting through harvest.
Bishop Waddell said the scope of the welfare farms “is quite remarkable.” Acres of orchards, vineyards and fields grow crops to feed people of all faiths, or no faith, around the world.
This is all done with a desire to follow the two great commandments — love of God and love of neighbor.
Lives have been changed on these farms, from the senior missionaries who are called to serve on the properties, to volunteers who give of their time, to employees who have seen miracles in the work and in their own lives.
President Johnson said sometimes miracles are large and sometimes they are quiet and very personal. “But I know that they happen, all in connection with this very important work.”
Maxfield said everything done in this program is to bless others and to help them know that their Heavenly Father is aware of them.
Part 2: Welfare processing and distribution facilities
Part two demonstrates how all the produce and crops grown on Church welfare farms are processed, canned, bottled, milled, cooked or baked at processing plants and then distributed throughout the world.
Food goes to more than 100 bishops’ storehouses to help Church members in need. This food is also shipped for free to food banks to help anyone of any faith or no faith.
“We always have surpluses, and those surpluses go to food pantries across the United States to serve all of God’s children,” Bishop Budge said.
Food is also sent to areas and communities affected by natural disasters or other turmoil, said President Johnson, to help “our brothers and sisters, our neighbors all around the world.”
Viewers will see the joy that comes to those who take the time to volunteer at these facilities and serve others. Said Bishop Waddell, “There is a joy that comes from reaching out and helping others; of getting beyond yourself.”
Part 3: AgReserves
Part three is different from the first two parts because it focuses on the for-profit farms under AgReserves. AgReserves is the commercial arm of Farmland Reserve, a world-class agricultural investment company affiliated with the Church that has farms and ranches in nine countries and more than 30 U.S. states.
These farms not only grow food that is sold commercially around the world, they grow people, too. Viewers will meet AgReserves workers in places like Brazil and Chile who have developed into leaders in the company and now mentor others.
Returns earned by the company go to support the Church’s sacred mission, Rose explained.
“It is a wonderful company, and it’s something that I hope Church members are proud of,” he said.
Rose said being a part of the agricultural industry is remarkable.
“We put in the work so we can have a productive harvest at the end,” he said. “And in that same way, the Church is investing so that there will be a productive harvest in the end. We get to be in an industry that does that every year, but that is a small version of what the Church is doing more broadly.
“It’s the law of the harvest in action.”
