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From April 7th to April 29th, we were entered in to the Real Montana short film competition put on by the Audience Awards. We received the information about the contest just days before the deadline, and managed to come up with a 1 minute film explaining our values and philosophy at Red Tractor. The contest awarded cash, and we immediately knew we could use whatever proceeds won to benefit Gallatin Valley Farm to School. You see, we have a big spot in our hearts for involving the youth in this worldwide awareness of local, organic, non GMO fresh food. GVFS connects schools with local farmers and raises awareness as well as overall health for the community. There are lots of projects all around the community they get involved in. One of these projects we have long desired to complete and are in the works of is a giant mural on the side of our shop, that displays colorful imagery of the farm to school ecosystem. If you’ve ever been in our shop, you’ve probably seen the coloring pages, displayed below:

Our biggest challenge was getting this profound message across quickly. If you have ever tried to explain anything in less than a minute, let alone you core values and life long dream, you would know it is VERY difficult in such little time! We decided to settle on a very basic concept: Farm to Pizza. We had our talented buddy Joel Martin direct and shoot the entire short. We got up at the crack of dawn and visited our favorite dairy farm, Amaltheia, (where we source our goat cheese) to get er’ done with the rising sun. Pigs, goats, dogs, camera men, actors, and planted pizza slices surrounded us. We planted the slices in rows, and began the fun. We chose a humorous angle because it represents us as who we are. Most shorts we ever see on local businesses take themselves far too seriously, and if anyone knows Red Tractor, they know it’s about fun.

Farm to Pizza means a lot to us as farmers and gardeners ourselves… it’s who we are and what we do. Though we did not take first place overall, we did place in our category of Food and Beverage. It was such a learning experience and a massive outpouring of love from our friends, family, and customers. We will continue to reach for that mural, and definitely not stop spreading the knowledge and power of our farmers.

Be sure and watch the video here!