Harvests of Hope: England

In Harvests of Hope: England - Economies of Soil, we meet four English farmers at the intersection of scale, soil management, and sweeping economic change.

We filmed this episode in England over the summers of 2018 and 2019, during the height of the Brexit vote.

We met a micro dairy farmer, a 4th generation conventional dairy farmer, a development consultant turned no-till silvilculture grower, and an environmentalist heritage cattle breeder. In this episode we explore the challenges of maintaining soil health and profitability at different scales.

Our goal as filmmakers and mine as a climate scientist is to avoid hysteria and blame. We use storytelling as a way to better understand the complex patterns that keep our system stuck on an unsustainable path and hopefully inspire positive action by focusing on what works.

You can support this film, and watch the previous two, at www.HarvestsofHope.com

  • Karen Buchsbaum
    Director
    Harvests of Hope: New Orleans, Harvests of Hope: California
  • Koorosh Farchadi
    Director
    Harvests of Hope: New Orleans, Harvests of Hope: California
  • Karen Buchsbaum
    Producer
    Harvests of Hope: New Orleans, Harvests of Hope: California
  • Koorosh Farchadi
    Producer
    Harvests of Hope: New Orleans, Harvests of Hope: California
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Karen Buchsbaum, Koorosh Farchadi

Karen has a passion for combining storytelling and science. She is a PhD candidate at Antioch University New England, where she is studying agricultural adaptation to climate change. She has over 10 years of experience developing community programs and teaching courses in nutrition, education and the environment.

Koorosh works as a video producer for the National Science Foundation. He has a degree in Communications from George Mason University. He has produced multimedia content for the foreign press and various non-governmental organizations, universities and businesses.

They had both grown tired of being inundated with disempowering messages about the state of the food system and teamed up to tell a different story; one about hope, community and resilience in the face of climate crisis. In 2015, the duo set out on a road trip across America to give a voice to farmers leading local projects with big impacts.

Harvests of Hope received the Docs in Progress Fellowship in 2016, the Thomson Reuters Foundation Good Food Media Award in 2017 and 2018, and has been included in official selections for over 8 festivals including the International Farm Film Festival, Best Shorts Competition, Awareness Film Festival, and The Colorado International Activism Film Festival.

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