How Ontario's forgotten Farmerettes helped feed the nation during WW II

Tens of thousands of young women from across Ontario worked on farms during and after the Second World War as part of a little-known government program.

Their story is now the subject of a new documentary, We Lend A Hand, which premieres Friday at the Junction North Film Festival in Sudbury.

The film, directed by Colin Field, dives into the experiences of the Farmerettes — teenage girls who took on agricultural work to support Canada's war effort by participating in the Ontario Farm Service Force.

From the early 1940s until the early 1950s, an estimated 40,000 young women worked the fields, many coming from northern Ontario and urban areas with no prior farming experience.

"It's a story that most people don't know in Ontario and they're surprised to hear," Field said.

"These women are now mostly in their 90s. Two of them are over 100. I found 20 of them and interviewed them over the past couple of years."

Field said his 50-minute documentary explores how these young women became an essential part of the agricultural workforce during and after the Second World War.