As part of their Natural World series, the BBC have just broadcast ‘A Farm for the Future’ – a film by farmer’s daughter and wildlife film maker Rebecca Hoskings, who wants to give her family farm a sustainable future. (Available on the iPlayer for at least the next few days.)
After hearing about our fossil fuel dependence and the Peak Oil problem, Rebecca meets some people who are already trying to produce food in a different way. There’s Patrick Whitefield, a famous permaculturalist, and a beautiful smallholding in Wales that’s small fields in the midst of woodland instead of a few scattered trees in the midst of fields and produces more food than the family who lives there can eat.
And there’s the Hollins from Fordhall Farm, talking about how the right mixture of pasture grasses can eliminate the need for extra fodder for livestock entirely.
Permaculture makes an appearance 29 minutes in. Martin Crawford (from the Agroforesty Research Trust) is on at the 37 minute mark and there’s some lovely footage of his forest garden and nut orchard.
By the end of the programme Rebecca appears to be convinced that ‘modern’ farming methods are going to have to come to an end and be replaced by something that models more closely the natural order – but that means more people are going to have to be engaged in food production. We need more gardeners, more farmers and more biodiversity – and less transport, machinery, pesticides and fertilisers.
Sign me up for that future, it looks lovely 
I’d like this programme to be more widely available. If you liked it, read my blog post More Farms for the Future and spread the word.
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Must watch that before it disappears from iplayer – looked very good. Thanks for the heads up Emma!
Hi Emma, Is this the programme that Erica shared a couple of days ago? http://www.ooffoo.com/listing/Must-see-documentary.aspx It looks very interesting and thanks for writing such a comprehensive write up. I wasn’t sure what it was about; and whether it might be a doom and gloom programme. I’m looking forward to reading your blog entry too
Yes, that’s the one
Emma – I hope you’ll be pleased to know that your article was featured in the most recent edition of the blog carnival “All Things Eco”. You can visit it here: http://tinyurl.com/allthingseco40 Keep up the good work!
Hi Emma, I watched this yesterday and was very inspired. Yep, I cried for the first part, but then felt very motivated by the rest of the programme. We had to pop out in the afternoon to the supermarket of all places, and I have to say how much longer it took me because I was looking for the local things and certainly Uk things – it really changed my way of thinking …
Hi Emma, I watched this yesterday and was very inspired. Yep, I cried for the first part, but then felt very motivated by the rest of the programme. We had to pop out in the afternoon to the supermarket of all places, and I have to say how much longer it took me because I was looking for the local things and certainly Uk things – it really changed my way of thinking …
http://rapidshare.com/files/204382217/FfF.mov this is a link to a quicktime version
for anybody who is interested in some literature about permaculture http://rapidshare.com/files/202795393/five_free_sources_to_start_permaculture.zip
How bizarre – I had a few friends around this morning and we were all making Morsbags…lol….a couple of them said this programme was excellent…I’ll have to dig it out on iPlayer too. It’s always great when there’s a buzz going around about something ‘decent’ to watch… Tracey Smith
Have you had time to watch it, Tracey? It really is worth it if you can find the time. Let us know what you think!