Growing Rich with Nature
A farmer's story of success
Growing Rich with Nature is a film presented by beef farmer Simon Hare, and shares his story of using the regenerative farming system at Trees House Farm. This is a farmer’s story of success, and the film charts Simon’s journey from managing a conventional dairy farm to a thriving regenerative beef farm. His journey offers a tangible and accessible route for farmers considering adopting regenerative farming practices on their own farm.Simon’s experiences are framed by other professionals, who each offer perspectives on how regenerative farming nurtures human, animal and environmental health. These experts are Allan Savory (creator of Holistic Management), Christopher Cooke (Field Professional in Holistic Management), Gillian Butler (Senior Lecturer in Animal Science) and Mark Hopper (Technical Supervisor at CSX Carbon).Growing Rich with nature has been co-produced by members of Darlington Friends of the Earth and is supported by Friends of the Earth and Pasture for Life.
OUR STORY
This project grew out of a meeting of minds of members of Darlington Friends of the Earth with a Landscape Gardener, a Livestock and Land Management consultant and farmer Simon Hare. We had a shared passion for the quality of the soil, for the health of humans and animals, and were grieving the loss of biodiversity, the desertification of many parts of the world, and the devastation to our waterways due to the increasing use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers. We were aware that farmers were struggling with rising prices and that the land was an amazing resource, that if managed well could capture carbon, feed families, and allow farmers to flourish.Farmers are important custodians of our natural environment with a little over 70% of the UK’s land being farmed. The current backdrop of the climate and ecological emergency requires a different approach to food production and this has led to growing momentum to implement regenerative farming practices. That is, ways of farming that support nature and ensure that nature, farmers and consumers thrive.We were inspired by Simon's work at Trees House Farm and wanted to capture his journey to share with others interested in taking the next steps on their own regenerative pathway. We spent a year with Simon, capturing the farm across the seasons, and along the way, we invited experts Allan Savory (creator of Holistic Management), Christopher Cooke (Field Professional in Holistic Management), Gillian Butler (Senior Lecturer in Animal Science) and Mark Hopper (Technical Supervisor at CSX Carbon) to share their perspectives on how regenerative farming nurtures human, animal and environmental health.
WATCH THE FILM
Currently, Growing Rich with Nature is only available to watch at organised screening events.Follow us on Facebook where we will share upcoming screenings hosted by ourselves and others. If you would like to organise your own screening, go to Host a Screening to find out more.
HOST A SCREENING
We know how important it is to bring people together around a shared vision. We invite you to host your screening of Growing Rich with Nature and to then have a discussion around the film to help inspire action.We have prepared a resources pack for screening hosts with all the information you need to do this. It includes: a background to the film, suggestions for hosting your event, technical needs, templates for discussion prompts, images and text to help communicate your event, frequently asked questions and costs to consider.If you would like to host a screening, then we suggest reading the resources pack and then get in touch with us at growingrichwithnature [at] gmail.com and we will guide you through the next steps.
FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES
In this section, we will share further interesting reading and resources relating to the film. This page will grow over time.
DONATE
We do not want cost to represent a barrier to you hosting your own screening, and so we do not ask for a set fee to screen the film. However, as a group we do not have any regular funding to help the film reach new people or to provide support to those interested in hosting screenings.For screening hosts, we suggest charging a small ticket fee of £3-6 to encourage those who sign up to your screening to attend and to help cover your costs.As a contribution to our work, we operate on a solidarity model: for organisations who receive funding or income, we ask for a small contribution of £50, and for volunteer groups, we only ask for a proportion of your ticket fees if you are in a position do so after you have covered other associated costs (for example, hiring a village hall for the event)If you are not hosting a screening but would like to support our work, we welcome any donations!These contributions will help keep this website running, keep the resources pack up to date, help cover the time needed to support other screening hosts and help us run events of our own.