Evesham Punjabi farmer aims to spread positivity with film

A Punjabi farmer said he set out to spread joy and positivity by creating a short documentary during what he described as a turbulent time for the industry.Bal Padda, who grows strawberries at his farm in Worcestershire, is from the Punjab region in north India, known for its farming heritage.He said his own journey from the area known as the "India's breadbasket" - because of its grain production - to the Vale of Evesham was "quite unique".His film, inspired by workers on his farm, is being shown at Evesham's Regal Cinema in a sold out show for an audience of 240.
The documentary called "It's a Punjabi Farm Innit - A Story of Strawberries, Faith and Farming" is made of two parts, each 13 minutes long, with an interval.The story is about the love, talent and faith of workers on the farm and includes a soundtrack sung in Punjabi by one of the workers.
'Brummie touch'
"The Punjabi way is farming, it's family, it's food, it's music, it's togetherness as well and it's the struggles that we face and we overcome them," Mr Padda said."Farmers are heroes and people don't see that. "There's eight billion people in the world."Farmers are feeding those eight billion - not just from this country in the UK but around the world."They're heroes so let's appreciate what they do."Laughing, Mr Padda explained how he came up with the title of the film and said: "It's Punjabi because we're Punjabi and 'innit' because we're Brummies."So it's got that Brummie touch as well."
Mr Padda said he wanted to show in the film how diversity on the farm had united communities and also tackled unrest in the industry.Farmers in the UK have recently staged tractor protests over a range of issues including the impact of inheritance tax changes."Farming at the moment has been attacked," he said, "not only here in the UK with the inheritance tax but back home in Punjab as well so farming needs some positivity."Jaswinder Singh, a technical expert on the farm added that workers at the farm were from all over the world including Europe, Pakistan, India and Indonesia."All these different nationalities work together and we welcome them as a family," he said.While the message of the film is largely positive, it also shows some of the harsh realities most farms face because of British weather."We've had storms, wet summers and at times no sunshine," Mr Padda said.But he said Punjabis never gave up, which was what farming was about.
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