The BBC showed an amazing programme as part of Natural World last Friday, 20 February 2009. It features Rebecca Hosking who is a wildlife film maker. She returned to the family farm in Devon to take over from her ageing father and uncle. What she found was very traditional farming methods and land that had not changed for many years.
The film charts her search for ways to farm sustainably in a time of decreasing and ever more expensive oil supplies. She did a good job of showing just how utterly we depend on oil for all our food. In the end she came to the conclusion that it is possible to survive without oil with changes to what and how food is grown.
It was a beautiful film, with a very genuine and knowledgeable presenter. If you missed it you can still watch it on BBC iplayer here. It really is worth seeing.
Related posts:
This was a beautifully made and inspiring film and presents a real alternative to “industrial” farming styles. We need to debate to issues here seriously.
The evidence that intensive, small farm/garden systems can be many times more productive than “conventional” farm systems has been know by many of us for many years. For support of this, we need to look at many very successful forest garden systems that have evolved for many years in: the hills of Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, Bolivia and in Central Africa. Of course, it is not the only way and more extensive systems are necessary for drier environments. To sustain these systems we need to recognise that we need more farmer/gardeners and that managing trees/ plants/livestock has to be an important part of future lifestyle for many more of us.