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A million acres a year a devastating examination of an ecological disaster

History of the environmental destruction over the last 50 years of the southwest of Western Australia, one of the world's most biodiverse areas. Shows the long term ecological and social impact of broad-acre farming, and the predicament of farmers unable to invest in more sustainable systems.

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  • "About us, million acres a year, A"@en
  • "Milliion acres a year"@en
  • "About us, a million acres a year"

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  • "History of the environmental destruction over the last 50 years of the southwest of Western Australia, one of the world's most biodiverse areas. Shows the long term ecological and social impact of broad-acre farming, and the predicament of farmers unable to invest in more sustainable systems."@en
  • "The southwest of Western Australia is one of the world's most bio-diverse areas. But in the last 50 years it has been the scene of environmental destruction on a massive scale. This documentary tells the story of the way a region now recognised as one of the top 25 biological hotspots on the planet was opened up for broad-acre farming, unleashing an environmental and social nightmare. During the 1960s, a million acres a year were opened up, despite the fact that much of the land was unsuitable for farming. Nevertheless, the new landholders were obliged to bulldoze and burn the native bush or risk losing their allocation under the 'conditional purchase scheme'. The long term consequences have been devastating, with industrial farming and salinity turning most of this priceless natural heritage into a biological desert. Fifty years of agriculture had effectively undone 3 billion years of evolution. Through the voices of people on the land, the impact of this ecological disaster is revealed."@en
  • "The southwest of Western Australia is one of the world's most bio-diverse areas. But in the last 50 years it has been the scene of environmental destruction on a massive scale. This documentary tells the story of the way a region now recognised as one of the top 25 biological hotspots on the planet was opened up for broad-acre farming, unleashing an environmental and social nightmare. During the 1960s, a million acres a year were opened up, despite the fact that much of the land was unsuitable for farming. Nevertheless, the new landholders were obliged to bulldoze and burn the native bush or risk losing their allocation under the 'conditional purchase scheme'. The long term consequences have been devastating, with industrial farming and salinity turning most of this priceless natural heritage into a biological desert. Fifty years of agriculture had effectively undone 3 billion years of evolution. Through the voices of people on the land, the impact of this ecological disaster is revealed."
  • "A Million Acres A Year describes the epic history of post war agricultural development in Western Australia and the personal journeys of some country people - a rural vanguard which has come to acknowledge that current forms of agriculture are not sustainable, and that the limited solutions we are trying to implement are not enough. Their story unfolds in the remaining mallee/heath lands of WA's 'Wheatbelt', most of which were released to agriculture after WWII through the War Service Land Settlement and Conditional Purchase Schemes. Farmers, milkmen, policemen, painters, miners, even a dress shop manager from Woollongong - lured by advertisements promising the cheapest land in Australia - followed their dreams from the eastern states into the 'newlands' to try and farm one of the most ancient landscapes in the world. They bear witness to the postwar holocaust of mass clearing, to the "breaking of virgin country" on the sand plains, to the spectacle of tandem bulldozers linked with anchor chains, thousand acres clearing burns and the brutal root rakes that produced so much wealth... and affliction. They describe the agricultural prescriptions, the ideologies and values that propelled 'newland' farming, and explain slogans like "a million acres a year" and "get big or get out". They recall the winds that massed sand dunes where bush once grew and speak of rivers running to salt, wetlands dying, the Ï continuing loss of more plant and animal species than in any comparable region of the world... the growing silence of the landscape. And for what? This massive agricultural expansion peaked early in a brief golden age that crashed, just a decade after its birth, into a biological and economic nightmare. All these are trials in the journey that led some farmers to their moments of truth. They describe episodes that were turning points away from industrial farming, and speak of how they succeeded in changing themselves and the way they work with the land. But A Million Acres A Year does not just look backward, it proposes that real and lasting change does not hinge on technocratic solutions. It is about honest self-reflection, taking risks, restoring the place of nature and finding a place in it for ourselves. It is about ethics and public responsibility. It is clear that the people in the documentary have transformed themselves not because conventional agriculture has failed economically, but because in their view its consequences are morally unacceptable... and more importantly, because they have grown to love the bush - whose remnants still compromise one of the planet's top 25 biological hotspots. Awards Winner 2003 ATOM Awards - Best General Documentary Science, Technology & Environment Category."@en
  • "History of the environmental destruction over the last 50 years of the southwest of Western Australia, one of the world's most biodiverse areas. Shows the long term ecological and social impact of broad-acre farming, and the predicament of farmers unable to invest in more sustainable systems. Includes archival footage."@en
  • "History of the environmental destruction over the last 50 years of the southwest of Western Australia, one of the world's most biodiverse areas. Long term ecological and social impact of broad-acre farming, predicament of farmers unable to invest in more sustainable systems. Includes archival footage."@en

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  • "A million acres a year a devastating examination of an ecological disaster"@en
  • "A Million Acres A Year"@en
  • "A million acres a year"
  • "A million acres a year"@en

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