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