Rachel's Farm

What’s Happening in Our Greater Backyard?

One woman’s journey from ecological despair to finding hope in the soil under her feet. Australian actress and film director Rachel Ward has joined the regenerative farming revolution.

In this wonderfully positive film, Rachel journeys from wilful ignorance about the ecological impacts of conventional agriculture on her own rural property, to embracing a movement to restore the health of Australia’s farmland, food and climate.

“My inspiration for Rachel’s Farm came from personally experiencing the Australian Black Summer bushfires in 2019 and subsequently reading Charles Massey's book Call of the Reed Warbler which details the challenges and accomplishments of many early adopters of the regenerative way of farming. I was inspired by the heroics of these farmers' stories, many of whom had gone bust from farming conventionally in ever degenerating soils and increasing droughts before transitioning to regenerative farming practices. Consumed by the country’s devastating destruction, I was suddenly able to move from despair and impotence to action.

As a farm owner, I had a personal story to tell too. During the three year drought, I was forced to buy in feed, then sell half my herd. Then, caught like many in Black Summer fires, I lost all my fencing. Salvation arrived with the introduction of a way of farming more in sync with nature and I was galvanised to take meaningful action, not only with the way I farmed my land, but as a consumer and as a filmmaker.” – Rachel Ward

The film features intimate interviews with Rachel, her family and the people she has been inspired by on her transition from the world of entertainment to the world of farming.

‘Rachel’s Farm’ is for anyone who cares about how their food is produced, how degraded our soils have become, and the changing role of women on farms. 

Why Regenerative Agriculture?

The term ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ is used to describe farming practices, that tread more lightly on the planet, help enormously to reverse climate change by rebuilding and restoring soil and soil biodiversity that has been severely degraded.  The rebuilding of organic matter increases the living biodiversity within the soil that in turn produces increasingly nutrient-dense food for people to consume.  All this while rapidly capturing carbon from the atmosphere to underground to reverse climate change. 

The results of regenerative agriculture have been proven time and again, changing farms once again to profitable, fulfilling and thriving ventures.  The increased health of the soil brings insect biodiversity which helps manage pest problems too.

According to Regeneration International, “The key to regenerative agriculture is that it not only “does no harm” to the land but improves it, using technologies that regenerate and revitalise the soil and the environment. Regenerative agriculture leads to healthy soil, capable of producing high quality, nutrient dense food while simultaneously improving, rather than degrading land, and ultimately leading to productive farms and healthy communities and economies. It is a dynamic and holistic, incorporating permaculture and organic farming practices, including conservation tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, composting, mobile animal shelters and pasture cropping, to increase food production, farmers’ income and especially, topsoil.”

SCREENING LOCATIONS

→ theregenerators.org

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