The Farmersville Film Project was an initiative aimed at supporting community and social progress through the use of film and communications media. It was developed and funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1968. The Office of Economic Opportunity was a United States government agency tasked with administering the War on Poverty programs created during President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. The Office of Economic Opportunity was officially transferred by President Ronald Reagan to the Office of Community Services in the Department of Health and Human Services in 1981. The Farmersville Film Project was inspired by a similar initiative created in 1967 by the National Film Board of Canada through the Canada for Canadians, Challenge to Change programs known as the "Fogo Process." The National Film Board of Canada developed the Film and Community Workshops, beginning with the Fogo Island Film and Community Project that took place in Fogo Island, Newfoundland. Fogo Island residents took part in various meetings, addressed community concerns and were shot in 27 films. The residents then watched the films, coming to a better understanding about their own community's needs and how to resolve those concerns and needs.

Henry Lanford, then a student of urban planning, attended the Film and Community Development Workshop held at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and became well-versed in the Fogo Process. Lanford was contracted by the Office of Economic Opportunity to initiate and direct the Farmersville Film Project. Lanford and the film crew spent six weeks in Farmersville, a suburb of Visalia in Tulare County, California. The area depends heavily on agriculture and consists mainly of whites and Latinos. After filming ended, Lanford conducted Community Film Workshops in Tulare County and throughout the United States until 1969.

Baylis Glascock is a cinematographer who worked on the Farmersville Film Project. In 1996, he attempted to produce a documentary that looked at persons who were interviewed in the 1968 Farmersville films and the way in which Farmersville community organizations had changed or developed since the project ended. Glascock was never able to begin filming.