By Laura BennettMonday 31 Jul 2023Hope AfternoonsLifeReading Time: 2 minutes
After the world experienced the hottest July on record and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said, “the era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived”, environmental stewardship is an increasingly pressing issue for the globe.
In November last year, the ABC reported that according to the latest Climate of the Nation report Australians have become more worried about the effects of climate change with 75 per cent of respondents concerned – rising to 84 per cent among 25- to 34-year-olds.
At a government level, opinion varies on how to address the issue but, where they’re caught in the politics of it all, people like filmmaker Rachel Ward are taking matters into their own hands and making small but positive steps forward.
In Rachel’s Farm, we’re taken onto the North Coast property of Rachel and her husband, actor Bryan Brown, have enjoyed for years learning about its place in their family and her evolving dream to see it run it as a sustainable farm.
Rachel was confronted with the realities of climate change and what she felt was a precarious future coming down the line for her family in light of the Black Summer bushfires and recent birth of her first grandchild.
So Rachel was inspired to act and learn all she could about regenerative farming and how agricultural practices can help, not hinder, efforts to look after our natural environment.
As an expert filmmaker, Rachel knows how to tell a good story on screen, and it’s reflected in the way Rachel’s Farm not only educates the audience about sustainable farming but celebrates Australia’s rural and indigenous identity and the unique communities cultivated on the land.
Bryan and Rachel’s relationship is hilarious – and the interjections of farm manager Mick about Rachel’s capacity to be a farmer are iconic – aiding in the movie’s ability to take an issue that can seem hopeless and overwhelming and make it personal and manageable.
Not all of us are going to run our own farms but Rachel’s Farm gives us a pathway forward to consider the impact of our purchasing decisions and the way we source food, while celebrating the ability of a dream to make change taking off at any age.
Rachel’s Farm is in cinemas August 3.
Learn more about regenerative farming on their website.