About the film

In this triumphant film, director and actress Rachel Ward voyages from her own wilful ignorance about the ecological impacts of conventional agriculture, to championing a movement to restore the health of our farmland, food and climate and in doing so the wellbeing of the farming communities that sustain the nation, and ourselves. Rachel's Farm is for anyone who cares about how their food is produced, how degraded our soils have become, and the changing role of women on farms.

The film unfolds through Rachel’s experiences, her personality, charm and self-deprecating humor. Her fear for a changing planet are our fears, and we are invested in her process of learning, experimenting, and, eventually, challenging others. Rachel’s love of rural life, as an avid horse rider and actively working on the farm, as well as her family focus, lay the foundations of a character we care about and can relate to. As she sets out to change her own farm, and Australia, we are driven from scene to scene by the urgent questions - and often setbacks - arising along the way.

A story of Australian land use and occupation cannot be told without Indigenous stories and recognition, shared by the keepers of those stories and those they appoint and approve to tell those stories. The film explores the deep knowledge of regenerative agriculture practices held by Australia's Indigenous peoples' for millennia, with Director/Producer and Bidjara-Dhunghutti woman, Ljudan Michaelis-Thorpe, aboard the project as Director of Indigenous Content.

Rachel's Farm is produced by WildBear Entertainment, known for Emmy-nominated feature documentary Playing with Sharks, and New Town Films. Executive Producers Regen Studios, the team behind the high-impact feature documentary 2040, are leading the film's impact campaign.

Rachel’s motivation

My inspiration for Rachel’s Farm came from personally experiencing the Australian Black Summer bushfires in 2019 and subsequently reading Charles Massey's book Call of the Reed Warbler which details the challenges and accomplishments of many early adopters of the regenerative way of farming. I was inspired by the heroics of these farmers' stories, many of whom had gone bust from farming conventionally in ever degenerating soils and increasing droughts before transitioning to regenerative farming practices. Consumed by the country’s devastating destruction, I was suddenly able to move from despair and impotence to action.

As a farm owner, I had a personal story to tell too. During the three year drought, I was forced to buy in feed, then sell half my herd. Then, caught like many in Black Summer fires, I lost all my fencing. Salvation arrived with the introduction of a way of farming more in sync with nature and I was galvanized to take meaningful action, not only with the way I farmed my land, but as a consumer and as a filmmaker.