Here is a thirteen minute film that visits large farms in
South East New South Wales in Australia.
Land that has been overgrazed and degraded since the settlement of
Europeans is being brought back to life by innovative farmers.
Filmmaker Amy Browne visited this dry farming country to
meet with Charles Massey who brought a simple technology observed in Africa, to
the land in Australia. Researchers found
that huge grazing herds of African wildlife were good for grasslands because they were
constantly on the move. This allowed the
grass to recover from their presence and probably benefit from their
droppings. Massey wrote Call of the Reed Warbler to share his
ideas and other farmers are now using rotational grazing paddocks which turn
out to be good for the land as well as the bottom line for the farmers. Some of them describe how they feel bad about
their past farming practices and have realized that they have to care for the
land or it can’t care for them.
This is a hopeful film to watch because you can see the
differences in the two kinds of management and how relatively simple it was to
achieve. They call this Regenerative
Agriculture as opposed to taking from the land until it can no longer give. These practices offer much hope on a large
scale. These farmers are writing a new story in grass and trees.
It is so encouraging to find out that people all over the world are coming up with solutions. Just because they aren't on the evening news does not make them less important. Of course healthy grasslands are not as compelling as the antics of some world leaders, but then again, those grasslands will still be there when those leaders are not. Take a look for yourself:
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