A Farm for the Future 3

[tomisclass]

not plowing is not radical either, no tillage farming is standard in australia, usa and canada the major grain producers of the world. this woman hasn't got a clue. she compares everything to her 100 acre farm in devon which yes of course is not sustainable its effeciencies in production would be shocking

[tomisclass]

oh no the worlds going to end, we will run out of oil and everything will grind to a standstill. er no i think not. human kind by our nature is intuitive and inventive. we are survivors. life finds a way. this woman presenting this show makes me want to give up on life as there is no hope! i'm not saying her facts are wrong she sounds pretty spot on but she makes out like the end of the world is looming.

[feelytouchy67]

@tomisclass, so what do you think of being able to feed one's cattle without having to go through the expense and trouble of growing, cutting, bailing, and carrying the hay to the cows in the winter? Even from a purely business oriented perspective, I find this film incredibly enlightening . . . even if the world isn't remotely close to dying . . .

[DrChrisBiomed]

In sweden we have "natur-bete" wich translates to "natural-pasture". What it means is that we let the pasture grow by itself without our interferance (leaving trees and bushes to grow as they like), and the cattle graze happily on it. Only problem is that the EU doesn't consider this to be a pasture as there are too many trees... beurocrats!

[RjbsNXT]

Raising cattle does nothing towards feeding the population with bread or potatoes which are the staple foods in our diets. Meat production also wastes a lot of energy as heat and movement so overall, to feed the population, arable farming is quite the necessary. A major reason for the growing population is the increase in supply of food. The world still went around before machinery was invented but people took advantage of it and the population has grown out of hand. That's the real problem..

[3877michael]

Every 20 years humans eat more food that has ever been produced from the time of Christ.

[treverbettis]

agriculture does not work period

[chexycat]

This whole thing stinks of green party propogander! Im not disputing there are issues but before you start scaring the public you need a proper understanding of what your talking about backed up with facts figures and science not oppinions

[FreemanOftheMind]

SOIL is the new OIL!!

[GnaReffotsirk]

It's not human reproduction that's the problem, but our focus must be shifted towards more essential stuff.

[FishyMoe]

plowing = fail. when you plow you release the carbon from the soil. faillllllllll. every society that plowed, failed; egyptians, aztecs, myans, etc. degrade your topsoil, you degrade your chances of life.

[711shamonkey]

overpopulation nonsense. permaculture could support twice as many people on the planet.

[FreemanOftheMind]

@711shamonkey i agree but the trouble is we more or less had permaculture systems set up worldwide not too long ago, particularly in non-developed countries BUT there has been a DELIBERATE shift towards forcing farmers OFF the land for CORPORATE gain (governments are little more than fascist dictatorships urging corporate interests).

[MrJacobTiffin]

I love this video Im looking at doing the things they talk about.

[Frankenpalin]

if you like this, check out Joel Salatin and Sepp Holzer

[agentgooner007]

@Frankenpalin Nice one mate :o) have a look for a book called The Fat of The Land by John Seymour it's a cracker.

[VictorianGentlmn]

Resilient communities and self-sufficiency. Localism. Take back your life from gov't, tv, advertisers. Live a life WORTH living.

[Lima547]

Excellent!

[PippiLongsox]

Good drama, not a way to feed the world. The UK is a net food importer because it doesnt allow genetically modified crops. Bioengineering allows for more production/acre using no more fuel. US farmers use much lower rates of crop protection products than their grandparents. Because of hybrid seed, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides & biotechnology, corn yield increased by 119 bu/acre between 1949 and 2007.

[Dread78]

not a way to feed the world..who says that? oh ...you!? so who are you? expert on?? did you ever grow something?

[PippiLongsox]

Yes, I have grown food, and have two degrees in agriculture. Have worked with food producers and and studied various methods of production all my life. World population is growing; see statistics from the Center for Global Food Issues. Modern agriculture is producing more food on less land. If we have any hope of feeding all those people, we have to use high-yield methods. I have no problem with people who want to do it differently, but they can't produce enough to feed the world.

Who are you?

[gjerlov]

@PippiLongsox - really. I beg to differ. I agree that we need high yield, but we also need (fossil) energy sparse production. Something in the line of production as "Polyface Farm" - or how they produce food on Cuba might work. The high yield solution you seem to be advocating is energy intensive, and since we don't have that energy to spare, then that "solution" is not a solution...

[Dread78]

a passionate permaculturist ;-) and yes it can feed the world...i needs more space then the other methods to grow the same amount of food.....and we have that space right? yes we have and yes we can ;-) you defend a rotten system my friend..are you gonna feed your own kids with shit just because you dont want to try something new? i wont :-) my father was head of a biotechnology company and before head of a company that produces fertilizers so i know that this stuff is not the way to go..

[Dread78]

if sepp holzer can grow kiwis and citrus 1400 m above sealevel, then everything is possible..:-)

[gjerlov]

@PippiLongsox - or you could shorten that into "Because of fossil fuels in many forms, corn yield increased. But when the cheap oil is gone, the production will drop again."

[edm6103]

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Rebecca. We are trying to change our farm here in NY State in a similar manner. Information is lacking on this type of scale. Any info would help.

Thanks

Ed

[eel4q2]

try getting in touch with the bbc they will know how to contact her!

[thisisjustme1]

Ask the BBC ?

[888zzz]

People believe they practically have the obligation to reproduce. They gotta get that out of their heads. Overpopulation is one of the main contributors to the environmental problems not just irresponsible use of resources.

[withDefiance]

I think those are both problems... and we are currently faced with a lot of people so you can say that thats the problem, but your not gona get rid of that in 10 years. And we can chance our ways of production, which, because of that large population to feed, have increased and moved to a poor way of producing food. Especcially the meat-production is horrific. The amount of pollution comming from that is absolutly staggering.

[sugarpuffsandwich]

I see they've got to you too. *Sighs*

[popeymike]

well said

[independant091]

@888zzz Overpopulation problem is not in birth of newborns but in not-dying of old people. Europe is aging, there is not enough young people to work for the army of old people. Medical care is way better today than it used to be century ago so they live 80 - 90 years. In their last 20 years of live oldies consume large amount of medicine, most of them have caregivers or nurses ( expenses), and they eat as well. Its a fact!

[ssssaaafff]

@888zzz Another media hyped response. This planet could easily hold 20 billion people in underground homes in permacultuered parks of the 5 billion acres of reclaimed deserts not to mention all the mountain sides, forest deserts and floating cities where every thing is recycled and grown locally. All the 7 billion people in the world if standing shoulder to shoulder would only cover the area of Los Angels, CA less than a fraction of a percent of the worlds surface.