If Not Now

I’m at the final stages of a new film ‘If Not Now’ for Rothamsted Research North Wyke, part of the UKRI funded research project LUNZ (Land Use for Net Zero). Rothamsted is a ‘farm platform’ which is part science living laboratory and part data collection centre exploring the impact of UK farming practices upon environment and climate. Their work broadly consists of testing, experimenting and measuring the impact of different farming practices upon climate change, biodiversity soil health, emissions to water and air and food production. Ultimately, their research feeds into developing farming policies within the wider economic, political, environmental and social contexts of the UK. Important work given the impact of farming on the environment.

My film ‘If Not Now’ tells a story about farming practices in the UK through a poetic conversation between two people. The conversation poses lots of questions without providing answers eg Where are the bees, butterflies and ground beetles, where are the dragonflies, do we really want a world with no dragonflies? The voices talk about the senses and the imagination: I miss the taste of food grown in soil alive with microorganisms, Rich and moist like dark chocolate cake.

It’s an animated film where footage of farmland & laboratories is layered with drawings of pathogens, species at risk such as wild flowers, swifts, and chemical pollutants in rivers. The film will be used to start conversations with landowners, farmers, between Rothamsted researchers and stakeholders. It will be shown to people at DEFRA end of this month. Here are a couple of clips without sound – which is being edited.