Every year many custom harvesters pack their bags, stock their RVs, load their crews and families into their trucks and head south for an annual pilgrimage that involves hard work, hot weather, and occasionally a rewarding sunset. These are the people who harvest the wheat and other crops that grow in abundance throughout the United States.

The wheat harvest usually begins in May and can last as long as six or seven months. Custom harvesters travel from the depths of Texas to the high mountain plains of northern Montana. It’s a lifestyle few can imagine and even fewer actually do it. Living in a travel trailer for months at a time, with long hours in a field and little time off would be a challenge to even the toughest of people, but these great American families love it. They wouldn’t think of doing anything else, because they know that what they’re doing is a vital link in feeding a growing international population.

Tracy Zeorian, a custom harvester and president of the U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc., said people need to know what it takes to get a loaf of bread on the table. “We can’t lose that focus of where our food comes from. Once we do that, how are we going to know what we’re eating?” Zeorian said. “This documentary will help tell that story.”

The story is dramatic as well as inspiring. It’s compelling as it shares the challenges that are now threatening that way of life passed on from generation to generation. Much has changed and from a historical perspective it’s important to document this lifestyle and tradition before it’s lost forever. In years to come, many will thank us for the investment of our time, talent and treasure.