Robert Golden’s documentary “This Good Earth” presents a complex subject — sustainable farming to create a more balanced ecosystem — in a digestible way. Beautiful shots of pastures, valleys and farmlands in Dorset, UK are paired with informative commentary from scientists, farmers, academics, doctors, and environmental experts to present sobering explanations of the links between how food is grown, the human diet and numerous illnesses.
In easy to understand terms, the farmers and others describe issues around land use and how it affects the food supply and climate change which are directly dependent on one another. Many, particularly the farmers, offer proven methods for dealing with a myriad of farming issues and they don’t sugar coat the difficulties and the constant compromises they must make. Agrochemical giants that use pesticides and herbicides (which leech into water supplies) and factory farms that rely on heavy machinery that ruins soil and begins the ecosystem breakdown are one of the main problems.
But family farmers note that the ability of a small scale approach to feed large populations is doubtful. That doesn’t mean farmers and consumers shouldn’t demand better. Liz Bowles, Associate Director of Farming and Land Use at the Soil Association, explains the importance of fertility building allowing soil to retrain its natural state rotation. That’s “the crux of organic farming,” she says, and she believes if done on a large scale that it could feed the world.
There is much that would have to change including reducing waste, reducing the high amount of methane gases produced by the millions of cattle and sheep in the UK, reducing carbon since agriculture produces nine percent of UK greenhouse gases through plowing, heavy machinery and livestock, and eliminating manufactured fertilizers which are neither effective nor environmentally sound.
It seems a daunting task but the farmers and experts in the film are optimistic. “This Good Earth” is a primer for those concerned with these vital issues as the clock ticks on finding and maintaining alternatives. There is nothing less at stake than the food we eat and the planet we inhabit.
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