Based in America, Sustainable looks at the economic and environmental instability of agriculture in the US. It looks at issues such as soil loss, pesticide use, fertiliser run off, and climate change. The narrative of the documentary mainly looks at a seventh generation Illinois farmer called Marty Travis who, after seeing the affects of big agribusiness on his land and local community, transformed his former wasteland into a profitable business and started the sustainable food movement in Chicago. They also interview other farmers and individuals from the food movement (including chefs and bakers) to find out how they are trying to make the food sector in America more sustainable and to keep, or sometimes build, the community that used to be a common part of farming.
There were a few things that I found particularly interesting in this documentary. The first was the fact that the farmers do not have to pay for the cost of the fall out from their activities, such as clearing up the nitrate problems that occur in the water ways from fertiliser run off. This completely separates this sector from the true cost of the type of farming and also means that there is no real incentive to make any changes. It is left to the individual to make that decision purely on personal conviction.
The second is that the system is not geared towards providing food and future food security to the nation, but towards making money for a few organisations. This can be seen by the fact that seeds are sold which are all genetically identical (genetically diverse crop are not economic for seed sellers) and sterile, and that any problem that a farmer comes across is promoted as only being fixable by using a bottle of chemicals. But research shown in this documentary showed that genetically diverse crops are much more resilient as a whole and much less susceptible to disease. It also showed that high biodiversity on a farm also fixes many of the issues, such as soil loss and lack of nitrogen in the soil, faced by farmers today in a much cheaper, long lasting way.
Perhaps the most interesting person on this documentary to me wasn't actually Marty but an Amish farmer called John Kempf, who you don't actually get to see as his religion will not allow it. The founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture he has been promoting an alternative way of farming called Regenerative Agriculture. This is a holistic land management practise born from the experience of farming in his Amish community, which looks at ways of improving soil health and nutrient density in a much more natural way, making the plants healthier and allowing their own immune system to look after the crops instead of the chemicals usually used. Crops looked after in this way become more resilient and the soil is not only healthier but more able to store carbon.
Whilst farming in Britain isn't as large as that in America, it is just as intense in many cases and there are the same issues of genetic monocultures, soil loss, and the perceived need to use large quantities of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The affects on our surrounding ecosystems and the possible threat to our food security are very much the same, and this makes this a very interesting documentary to watch about the possible alternatives we could bring here and to other countries. With changes that will definitely be coming to our shores due to climate change, even if we are able to curb the temperature rise to 1.5°C, building resilience in our crops and farming practises as a whole is something we do need to be looking into. Definitely worth a watch.
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