Are you bored at home with excess free time? Check out these new must-watch farming films. Perhaps this is the first step towards changing agricultural narratives in your mind.
Best agricultural documentaries on Netflix
#1 Honeyland
Honeyland caused quite a stir at the previous year’s Oscars, making history as the first documentary film ever to secure nominations in both the International Feature and Documentary Feature categories.
#2 Rooted
Germaine Jenkins founded Fresh Future Farm, an urban farm in her hometown of Charleston, SC, driven by her passion for food and dedication to addressing food insecurity. The documentary captures her journey to secure a long-term lease or ownership of the farm’s 0.8-acre land.
#3 The Pollinators
The Pollinators, a documentary, follows migratory beekeepers as they traverse the United States to transport their bees to farms nationwide. Their vital task is to pollinate flowers and food crops.
While you’re searching for farming stories on Netflix, you’re likely to encounter restrictions based on your location. Even regular rural stories on Netflix may not be available in your area. So we figured it out, but how to change the Netflix region? You can trick Netflix into thinking you’re in a different location if you use a VPN. In this case, you will be able to learn more about environmental agriculture on Netflix and will not be dependent on regional restrictions in your country.
#4 Ugly Delicious
Dave Chang, the culinary genius responsible for Momofuku and Majordomo, showcased his talents on a Netflix documentary series that delved into various mouthwatering and popular cuisines. He delved even deeper, examining the contexts and histories of these dishes.
#5 Cooked
2016’s Cooked, a Netflix documentary by Alex Gibney, delves into the world of food and farming. Like Ugly Delicious, it explores the fascinating history of cooking and a variety of dishes. However, for fans of Aang and the characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cooked offers an even stronger connection.
#6 Forks Over Knives
Recently, there has been a noticeable trend away from traditional meat industries and products. While beef and poultry are still widely consumed, vegan diets and plant-based options have gained popularity in our society’s awareness.
#7 David Attenborough: A Life on our Planet
Through captivating film sequences, Attenborough exposes the significant changes that have transpired during his lifetime – dwindling wilderness and escalating atmospheric carbon concentrations in his 93 years on Earth.
One of the negative consequences of this era has been the relentless pace of progress, wherein we have learned to exploit seasons through farming practices and swiftly clear rainforests to make way for monoculture. The untamed has been replaced by the domesticated. However, human survival hinges on the stability of the natural world. Attenborough highlights an absolute truth – our ultimate reliance on the finite natural world surrounding us.
#8 Follow the Food
The BBC presents “Follow the Food,” an engaging 8-part documentary series. This captivating series delves into the world’s food system. As part of the BBC’s multimedia project on the food chain and climate change, episodes 3 and 8, titled “Soil: the New Gold Rush” and “Sustainable Food Systems” respectively, spotlight sustainable agriculture. Look out for new episodes slated to release in January 2021.
#9 Together We Grow
Together We Grow, a heartwarming short film, showcases the community’s resilience and determination through the story of Common Unity Project Aotearoa. Director Jordan Osmond takes viewers on a captivating journey through a thriving hub that unites the local community. Through shared activities like gardening, sewing, and repairing, sustainability and resilience are promoted. Anyone seeking to discover the impact of community building should not miss it.
#10 Kiss the Ground
This full-length documentary, produced in 2020, explores the healing power of soil. It argues that by sequestering carbon, soil could potentially reverse the effects of climate change. Biosequestration refers to the storage and removal of carbon from the atmosphere by photosynthetic plants and bacteria. The soil environment can store more carbon than both the atmosphere and surface plants combined. Unfortunately, many of our actions have been detrimental to soil life. Erosion on a massive scale has occurred, leading to desertification.
#11 To Which We Belong
This film has undoubtedly become my favorite as it speaks directly to the regenerative farmer and anyone embracing a regenerative lifestyle. When grasslands covered vast areas of the Earth, they naturally acted as carbon sinks, trapping carbon. However, due to human transformation of the landscape, billions of tons of soil have become vulnerable to erosion and oxidation. Our ancestors experienced a similar phenomenon as they learned to farm over thousands of years. Sadly, it took only a few years to irreversibly alter the once expansive grasslands.
Conclusion
Knowledge is power, and in this case, knowledge equals health. The better we understand the path of food to the table and how it affects the body, the more attention we will pay to it. It’s not for nothing that they say that we are what we eat.
