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Working With The Land, Not Against It — Some U.S. Farmers Take New Approach To Soil Health

Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 - 12:45pm
Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 - 1:05pm
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A new documentary series done in collaboration with Arizona State University follows ranchers and farmers across North America and the United Kingdom as they try a new approach to their work.

Fourth-generation rancher Will Harris from Bluffton, Georgia, is one of those featured in the 10-part series called "Carbon Cowboys."

In it, producer and director Peter Byck details how some farmers and ranchers have started paying more attention to the health of their soil, and are using their grazing animals to do it. They’re having their animals stay together and eat half of the grass on the land, and then moving them on — rather than having the animals eat everything on the land they’re on.

The films argue that heavy hit, followed by a rest period helps trigger nature’s best technologies, and is allowing farmers and ranchers to increase their production and decrease their use of chemicals and fertilizers.

Peter Byck, who’s also a professor of practice at ASU spoke with The Show for more about this, and how big of a change this is for those farmers and ranchers from what they had been doing.

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