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The Nitrogen Dilemma

Five farmers, on five continents, with the same goal: Feed the world.

The Nitrogen Dilemma is a feature documentary about the challenges farmers face to feed our growing population without destroying the planet. Told through the experiences of farmers in Ukraine, Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia and the United States, the film zeroes in on our complicated reliance on Nitrogen fertilizers. As a central character in global agriculture, Nitrogen connects all the forces that make our food system so fragile - from conflict to climate change to economic turmoil. But it also holds the answers to how we feed the future more sustainably.

  • Peter Karl
    Director
    RIVALS, The Long Game, American Fútbol
  • A.J. Kelly
    Executive Producer
    Warning Labels, Secret Love Triangle, Taken in Montana
  • John Lovejoy
    Producer
    Ghost Fleet
  • Hannah Harper
    Producer
    Oprah's Favorite Things
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 31 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Ukraine, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, Sony
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • N/A
Distribution Information
  • N/A
Director Biography - Peter Karl

Peter Karl is an Emmy Award-winning documentary director, producer and writer. A New England native, Peter co-founded the LA-based production company Goodform in 2019.

His 2022 film RIVALS: Ohio State vs Michigan - a deep dive in to the psychology of sports rivalry - was narrated by Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons and awarded the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Writing - Long Form.

Peter has also directed & produced both long and short form projects for Fox Sports (The Long Game, 2021), NFL Network (Indivisible, 2020) and Amazon (American Fútbol, 2019), among others.

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Director Statement

I’m just another city kid who fantasizes about owning a farm one day. A chicken coup, a beehive, an apple orchard. Maybe a furry farm dog? It sounds like utopia.

But farming - real farming - is not utopia. I learned this as a volunteer on a dairy farm outside Bogotá, Colombia. Early mornings. Unpredictable weather. Sick animals. Constant bookkeeping. There’s little romance in farming.

This experience gave me a different appreciation for where and WHO our food comes from. And in 2020, as Covid crippled our food system, and then war in Ukraine made it even worse, farmers bore the brunt of it. Combine all this with a worsening climate crisis, and The Nitrogen Dilemma was born.

When you boil it all down, the problems we face with our food system today - and the promising solutions for tomorrow - are ALL connected by one thing: Nitrogen. And if we’re to ever build a sustainable way of feeding the future, we have to understand a farmer’s struggle with this essential resource and major pollutant.

But change begins with empathy. And that's the goal of this film: to leave a viewer a more educated, empathetic member of our broken food system. Because fixing it will take an effort from all of us, not just farmers.