Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

The Compass v2 Podcast

The Compass

Documentaries

Factual: Life Stories

With ideas too big for a single episode, The Compass presents mini-series about society

Surprising stories from unusual places. With ideas too big for a single episode, The Compass presents mini-series about the environment and politics, culture and society.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

The Compass: Ground Shift: The Farming Revolution: Ground Shift: Scale and modern farming models

Factual

Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm

14/08/2019 GMT

Ground Shift: Scale and modern farming models

Ground Shift: The Farming Revolution

BBC World Service - The Compass, Ground Shift: The Farming Revolution, Ground Shift: Scale and modern farming models

Ground Shift talks to the next generation of farmers in Ghana, Australia and the USA

Ground Shift talks to the next generation of farmers in Ghana, Australia and the USA.

From Big Ag and "factory farming" to urban micro farms, Anna Jones explores dramatic differences in the scale of modern agriculture.

Looking out across the New York City skyline, Anna hears how food can be produced sustainably, affordably and even abundantly on a rooftop in the heart of one of the world’s biggest cities. Urban farmer Ben Flanner swapped an engineering career in Manhattan for growing vegetables on top of an 11th storey building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He believes Millennials are reconnecting with fresh ingredients, grown locally, and rejecting sugary, processed food – much of which contains corn syrup derived from the field corn grown under America’s industrial farming model.

But on his combine in Iowa, rolling through 4,500 acres at the height of the corn harvest, 28-year-old Brandon Pickard says farms have expanded in order to survive. He believes industrial farming is the consequence of a shrinking farming population and expansion is the natural evolution of a successful business. He’s proud of his corn crop and says it’s helping to feed the world.

And Anna visits an organic farm in New York state which is making agriculture more diverse in terms of the crops they grow and the farmers that grow them. Rise & Root Farm is owned and run by four women – two of them are black and two of them are gay.

Producer:  Anna Jones

(Photo: Brooklyn Grange Farm. Credit: Anna Jones/BBC)

The Compass: Ground Shift: The Farming Revolution

Ground Shift talks to the next generation of farmers. In Ghana, Australia and the USA, Anna Jones investigates what young farmers make of the agriculture they’ve inherited, and how they are transforming the way food is produced. She finds out how farmers in different parts of the world face difficult choices as they adapt to new technology and environmental change. Will we see more agriculture in and around cities? Are new people being attracted to farming? And, in a globalised world, are new business opportunities opening up?

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Compass

Ground Shift: The Farming Revolution

Ground Shift: Scale and modern farming models

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service