In the month since October 21st, Janet and I have screened the Roots So Deep film to over 200 people in nine locations across New Zealand: Rangiora, Takaka, Motueka, Greytown, Waikanae, Whanganui, Norsewood, Wellsford and Whenuapai. The look in people's eyes, as they express their appreciation, reinforces my commitment to keep showing up for new screenings. So what are people getting from it, you might ask.
This is one of the first, or maybe the first film, to share such thorough and detailed science underpinning the observable benefits of adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing. It's one thing for a farmer to see the positive impact of their experiments, and another thing altogether to have the science and the data shows why it's working.
AMP grazing mimics the giant herds of ruminants (Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Deer, Bison, Giraffes) that used to roam freely across many of earth's open landscapes.
It turns out that a concentrated heavy hit, by a large mob for a short time, followed by a long rest period before returning to the same pasture, has significant beneficial impact on the vegetation, the soils, the wider ecosystem, and the climate. This is what's the film documents, in such a compelling, clear and very human way, and the regular gasps from the audience say it all.
In the same way that Syntropic Agroforestry systems benefit from human management and periodic disturbance, this grazing approach requires humans to manage the process, adapting the size of the area being grazed, and the length of time before the mob is moved onto new pasture. The benefits of such active management can be seen in just a few short years and shows that we can have dramatic beneficial impact, restoring and regenerating ecosystems and bringing back life, abundance and diversity, as we come to the end of the industrial food era.
If you are ready for some inspiration, watch this film by Peter Byck and Carbon Cowboys.
We have more screening events scheduled and will keep adding to the list, and a series of events is now being planned across Northland through the month of February.