adding depth and motion to images for video
I think you're referring to the (false) parallax effect. This guy has applied it to stationary photographs in a similar way as in the "God made a farmer" video and in the video description he explains the global steps he has taken.
Here's a quote from his description concerning the production process: 


  First, the image is cut into multiple sections, each cut section being
  at different distances from the camera. After the photos have been
  sliced into multiple layers and the holes filled in (yes, you have to
  fabricate some of the background, a slow but usually pretty easy
  process in Photoshop) the layers are then brought into After Effects
  and separated in Z-Space (pushed away from the viewer in 3D space). If
  the layers are put approximately in the correct distance from the
  virtual camera, mimicking the distance from the original image, a
  believable parallax "video" can be made with simple virtual camera
  moments.