Recently, I heard about this documentary called “The Need to Grow” and the name resonated with me. I do believe we can’t talk about a sustainability without addressing our food production and our soil health.
Last night, I watched it online and I found it really interesting. They are currently doing a worldwide free screening via Food Revolution Network.
Given this is happening right now (from the 10-15 of Oct 2019), today’s post is just a short one to tell you a bit about this film and invite you to watch it this weekend.
What’s is the film about?
The movie starts with this quote:
“We have an estimate of 60 years of of farmable soil left on the planet mostly due to unsustainable agriculture”
In a nutshell, the film is about the importance of a healthy soil and biodiversity for food security and a healthy planet.
The message is simple, you can’t feed the world with a death soil.
They explain how modern industrial agriculture, full of synthetic chemicals and mono-crops leaves a soil that’s depleted from nutrients. As biodiversity decreases, then more chemicals are needed to keep producing food while the soils become less and less healthy.

Photo source: “The Need to Grow” film
Topics and stories
Some of the topics they touch on:
- Regenerative agriculture as a key to combat climate change, given that a healthy soil can actually offset carbon.
- The importance of buying local food grown with sustainable practices
- Food security and the importance of seeds.
- Food waste and composting.
During the film, they present three main stories:
- A computer scientist who created an invention called ‘Green Power House’. Honestly, I found it quite amazing.
- The story of a girl who became a young activist raising awareness about GMOs.
- A guy who created a zero waste micro farm growing amazing produce with limited space and without harmful chemicals.
I must say this is not the first documentary I watch about the subject and some of the info was not new to me, but I found it inspiring, specially the technological advancements and the stories of people trying to bring positive change and raise awareness about these topics.
There is a bit of a drama in the middle of the movie with some events that unfold – I didn’t enjoy that part that much – but in the overall I think it is a nice and positive documentary to watch. It gave me hope for the future.
Free screening
If you are reading this post during the free screening (10-15 of Oct 2019), this is the link, just register and you’ll be able to watch it straight away:
The Need To Grow – free screening
Note that at the end of the movie, there is an offer of some video lessons to learn more about these topics. I think it is a good way to support the project.
If you catch this post later, you can always rent it or watch it on demand.
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“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
That’s it for today. I hope you get the chance to watch the documentary. If you do, let me know in the comments below what you think 😉
Thanks for reading,
Diana
Thank you for sharing about documentary infos. Planning to buy that documentary video.
No worries. This one is currently free until Tuesday 15/10/19. You can catch it online right now if you like 😉
Watched it , thanks for the link. I shared with a few people. I didn’t think the title really matched the content but it was interesting to see the Green Power House.
Oh great. Glad to hear you watched it. Yes, it is a mixture of several topics. Yes, the GPH part was my favourite because the concept is so different and innovative Inspiring concept ;).