Derek’s Ark
As climate change impacts Britain (with the wettest winter ever recorded), ‘Derek’s Ark‘ tells the comedic story of two visions colliding in the English countryside. A maverick rewilder is set on creating a haven for nature while over the hedge a dyed-in-the-wool intensive farmer is hell bent on producing food on an industrial scale
Derek Gow – ex-sheep farmer famed for bringing back the beaver to Britain – is transforming his Devon farm into an oasis for nature. Over his hedge neighbour Derek Banbury, an intensive dairy farmer, is appalled: “It’s not farming. It’s just a mess.” What happens when a maverick rewilder is surrounded by committed intensive farmers? As the two Dereks and other neighbours square off about everything from wild boar invasions to hedge trimming, this film asks what’s really at stake for us all. In the face of accelerating biodiversity loss and a fragile farming system struggling to cope, can the warring factions find a middle ground that allows nature to flourish and, at the same time, produces enough food for us all?