I watched the BBC documentary, ‘A Farm for the Future’ this morning and I highly recommend it – to everyone!  Nature film maker Rebecca Hosking returns to the farm she grew up on and explores the future of farming in this oil-crisis age that we live in. At one point in the documentary, she gives a fascinating break-down of all the oil that goes into producing a simple sandwich.

Through interviews and visits to other farms, Rebecca examines the concept of permaculture as a viable new food producing method that models itself on nature’s design. Her research points to permaculture techniques resulting in higher yields of food with less labour, limited to no oil use and much less negative environmental effects.  It’s a method that co-exists with nature, protecting and encouraging biodiversity and wildlife while producing healthy food.

One of the permaculture gardeners she meets with says, “Gardening with hand tools is more productive and more energy efficient than farming,” and a very interesting comment near the end of the documentary suggests that re-ruralization may be the dominant trend of the 21st Century (hmmm…I may have just discovered what I want to pursue PhD studies in).

I’ve understood for years the positive impacts of growing your own food and supporting local, environmentally-sensitive farmers, but this documentary helps shed more light on the topic of our food – our currently unsustainable methods of producing it and permaculture as a realistic step in a better direction.

Watch it here: A Farm for the Future