0:00:18 > 0:00:22I always think this Devon landscape is the most beautiful place on Earth
0:00:22 > 0:00:30and to me this is a very special farm, because it's where I grew up
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and it's the only place I've ever really called home.
0:00:35 > 0:00:42My name is Rebecca Hosking and I'm from a long line of farmers.
0:00:45 > 0:00:52But it was the wildlife here more than the farming that really fascinated me as a child.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55And this led me into a career as a wildlife filmmaker.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00But now I'm back here to be a farmer...
0:01:00 > 0:01:04and in very interesting times.
0:01:04 > 0:01:11An approaching energy crisis will likely force a revolution in farming
0:01:11 > 0:01:14and change the British countryside for ever.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24It will affect what we eat,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26where it comes from,
0:01:26 > 0:01:31and even the alarming question of whether there will be enough food to keep us fed.
0:01:37 > 0:01:43If our farm is to survive, it will have to change.
0:01:43 > 0:01:49In this film I'm going to find out how to make my family farm in Devon
0:01:49 > 0:01:52a farm that's fit for the future.
0:01:58 > 0:02:05I think when people sort of find out I was brought up on a small South Devon farm,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09they always think I must have had the most amazing childhood ever.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14When I think back to when I was brought up here,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I just think of a load of bloody hard work really.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22We were just small time farmers and with that is involved not much money
0:02:22 > 0:02:28and a lot of hard work, to the point that it's almost drudgery.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Dad often describes farmers as glorified lavatory attendants.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39And my family, like many farming families I think
0:02:39 > 0:02:44up and down the country, wanted something better for their children
0:02:44 > 0:02:52and I was actively encouraged to get out of farming, go and find a job, go and make a decent living.
0:02:52 > 0:02:53'So that's what I did.'
0:02:56 > 0:03:00And while I was away pursuing my career, my dad and my uncle Phil
0:03:00 > 0:03:07carried on, as ever, farming in a pretty traditional way.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10But now it's time for me to come back.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14The thing is, both Phil and I now, we...
0:03:14 > 0:03:19I was going to say we're several years beyond retiring age and should
0:03:19 > 0:03:24have retired, and most farmers have done that, but we've kept the farm
0:03:24 > 0:03:28going and, um...kept it going as long as we can,
0:03:28 > 0:03:34trying to keep it as we found it, as we sort of inherited it.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39You know, I'm delighted to think somebody will take it on now and keep it going, hopefully.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45But it's not going to be easy because of pressures of all sorts of things...
0:03:45 > 0:03:48food shortages, oil prices going up...
0:03:48 > 0:03:51it's not going to be easy at all.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Many would say, "Just sell it.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01"That would make more money in a heartbeat than a lifetime of working the land."
0:04:01 > 0:04:08But how can I turn my back on somewhere so beautiful, and a place that made me who I am?
0:04:08 > 0:04:10However, making a living while continuing
0:04:10 > 0:04:17to preserve all the wildlife on the farm, as Dad has done, is going to be a major challenge.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25The inconvenient truth is that this farm,
0:04:25 > 0:04:31despite being a haven for wildlife, is no more sustainable than any other.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35All the farms I know, including organic ones,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39are utterly dependent on fossil fuel, particularly oil.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43This dependence is dangerous for two reasons...
0:04:43 > 0:04:45climate change we all know about,
0:04:45 > 0:04:52but there is also growing evidence that the oil we need may soon be in short supply.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Last year's fuel prices hit us badly
0:04:55 > 0:05:00and for me it was a bit of a wake-up call.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05I recently learned that those crippling fuel prices may be just a tiny
0:05:05 > 0:05:10taster of what's to come as world oil production begins to decline.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15If there's any truth to this matter, then this will be my
0:05:15 > 0:05:20biggest challenge in keeping our farm going into the near future.
0:05:20 > 0:05:27So I decided to track down one of the world's most respected authorities on the subject.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32After a distinguished 40-year career as a geologist in the oil industry,
0:05:32 > 0:05:37he continues his research from a small village in the west of Ireland.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42To Dr Colin Campbell, the facts about our oil supply are simple.
0:05:42 > 0:05:48Despite searching the world with all the advances in technology and knowledge
0:05:48 > 0:05:50and incentive and everything,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53we've been finding less and less for 40 years.
0:05:53 > 0:06:00And in 1981 was a kind of turning point when we started using more than we found in new fields,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03as we started sucking down what had been found in the past...
0:06:03 > 0:06:06eating into our inheritance, you could say.
0:06:06 > 0:06:12So I don't think there's really any serious doubt that we're close to this turning point.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16A sort of turning point for mankind, you could say, when this critical
0:06:16 > 0:06:23energy for agriculture in particular, which means food, which means people, is heading on down.
0:06:23 > 0:06:30And there's a huge debate raging of exactly the date and the height of the peak of production.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32And really I think this misses the point.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36It doesn't matter whether it's this year, next year, five years out.
0:06:36 > 0:06:44What matters is the vision that after this peak you have a decline of only 2% or 3% a year,
0:06:44 > 0:06:50but there's a huge difference between climbing for 150 years and descending for 150 years.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55What Colin is saying is this decline will mean fuel shortages
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and prolonged economic turmoil.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01I tend to agree with him.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04It doesn't matter whether it's two years or ten years away,
0:07:04 > 0:07:10the impact it will have on pretty much every part of our lives is huge.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16But for me the biggest concern is how it will affect farming...
0:07:16 > 0:07:19which means our food.
0:07:19 > 0:07:25I don't think most people have given it much thought how much fossil fuel goes into our everyday food.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29I just bought this garage sandwich just before we got on board...
0:07:29 > 0:07:34and I'm going to pull it apart and go through all the ingredients.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36I'm gonna start with the bread.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40So somewhere in the world some farmer has had to plant the cereal.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43First off, he's in a diesel-run tractor.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46So he has to plough the field...
0:07:46 > 0:07:49then harrow the field. Then he has to drill the seeds into the earth.
0:07:49 > 0:07:56And then to get the cereal to grow, he's probably had to add a load of chemicals. To protect the crop...
0:07:56 > 0:08:01fungicides, herbicides, insecticides - all made from oil.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05And for the nutrients, chemical fertilizers...
0:08:05 > 0:08:11and at the moment most of the farmers' fertilizer is derived from natural gas.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Once the cereal has ripened, it needs to be harvested.
0:08:14 > 0:08:21Then the grain is dried using big heaters and then it's driven using even more diesel to be processed.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26And it isn't some little granny in a corner shop doing this.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30This is huge industrial buckets making this kind of bread.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34So then we move on to the inside and ham obviously comes from a pig
0:08:34 > 0:08:39and that's even more energy hungry because pigs are fed on grain.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42And one pig can eat nearly half a tonne of the stuff.
0:08:43 > 0:08:50And then, just to add to it, we've got a little token very sad piece of salad in there
0:08:50 > 0:08:54which was either shipped in, flown in or grown in a heated greenhouse.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Once again a huge amount of energy.
0:08:57 > 0:09:03All of these ingredients were either cooked or cooled or both and driven mile after mile in a refrigerated
0:09:03 > 0:09:08lorry before they were assembled into a sandwich.
0:09:09 > 0:09:16Basically, this sandwich, like most of the food that we're eating today, is absolutely dripping in oil.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20And the way that our food production is today, if we didn't
0:09:20 > 0:09:25have places like this, then in this country we'd pretty much starve.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35My visit to Ireland has given me a lot to think about.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40Even on our little farm, without fossil fuel energy, farming and food production
0:09:40 > 0:09:45would grind to a halt pretty quickly and we would be left with, well,
0:09:45 > 0:09:51a nature reserve. And nature reserves don't feed people.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54This is such a serious issue, I'm guessing the rest
0:09:54 > 0:09:58of the farming world must be as concerned as I am.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Perhaps some of them have some ideas on how to move forward.
0:10:01 > 0:10:08A major Soil Association conference on the future of British farming seems like a good place to start.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13We may all think we're immune here because we can nip along
0:10:13 > 0:10:17to Tesco Metro whenever we like in the middle of the night and buy something...
0:10:17 > 0:10:19that whole system is in jeopardy.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23How are you going to feed Britain? How are you going to feed London?
0:10:23 > 0:10:2940% of the world's production comes from the 500 or so giant oil
0:10:29 > 0:10:32fields, half billion barrel oilfields. Most of those...
0:10:32 > 0:10:34They're certainly worried.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39And from what I'm hearing, the energy problem seems, well, imminent.
0:10:39 > 0:10:46It will hit us by 2013 at the latest, not just as an oil crisis
0:10:46 > 0:10:51but actually as an oil and indeed energy famine.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Farmers are going to have to move from using ancient sunlight...
0:10:55 > 0:10:57using oil and gas...
0:10:57 > 0:10:59to using current sunlight.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02And that seems to me the most enormous challenge that agriculture
0:11:02 > 0:11:07has ever faced, certainly since the Industrial Revolution because we have so little time to do it.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10If we can get government to be part of that, so much the better,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14but if government won't be part of that, we'll have to do it without them.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17These are the new fundamentals on which the food system
0:11:17 > 0:11:20is going to have to be based or else we are buggered.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26The farmers' conference made it clear to me there are no easy answers.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34If our farms and machinery are so energy-hungry, what are the options without oil?
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Alternative energies are coming on leaps and bounds nowadays.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Which one is likely to fit the bill?
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Over in California at the Post Carbon Institute,
0:11:48 > 0:11:54there is a man who has advised business, industry and governments on how to cope with oil depletion.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Richard Heinberg kindly agreed to talk to me via the internet.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04I mean, surely with wind and solar and nuclear we could use all of this
0:12:04 > 0:12:08and the depletion of oil really isn't a problem?
0:12:08 > 0:12:12We've waited too long to develop alternative energy sources
0:12:12 > 0:12:15and there's also the likelihood that
0:12:15 > 0:12:19even all of these alternative energy sources put together won't be able to
0:12:19 > 0:12:25power industrial societies in the way that we've become accustomed to with fossil fuels.
0:12:25 > 0:12:32People have to understand that we've created a way of life that's fundamentally unsustainable.
0:12:32 > 0:12:38And that doesn't mean that it's just, you know, ecologically irresponsible, it means that it can't continue.
0:12:38 > 0:12:45The scale of the challenge ahead Richard is talking about becomes clear when you look at bio-fuels.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50Oil seed rape is the most productive bio-fuel crop in our climate.
0:12:52 > 0:12:59At Britain's current rate of oil use, a whole year's harvest from a four-acre field like this
0:12:59 > 0:13:02would be used up in less than one third of a second.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08That would be little help to agriculture as it stands today.
0:13:08 > 0:13:14Aside from transport, cars, trucks and airplanes,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18agriculture is the most fossil fuel intensive industry.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22We use in the industrial world about ten calories of fossil fuel energy
0:13:22 > 0:13:25for every calorie of food we produce.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28So this is an enormous problem we've created for ourselves.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39We have solved enormous problems in agriculture before.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44In the past 50 years, agricultural technology
0:13:44 > 0:13:49has tripled crop yields and overcome everything nature has thrown at us.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56But all of these advances rely on abundant fossil fuel.
0:14:00 > 0:14:06In a sense, they have taken us exactly in the wrong direction to deal with this new problem.
0:14:06 > 0:14:13Even the latest technologies, like GM crops, regardless of the other
0:14:13 > 0:14:19arguments, are as utterly dependent on fossil fuel as any other.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24So where does this leave us?
0:14:24 > 0:14:29It's possible in fact that food systems could collapse not just in the poor countries,
0:14:29 > 0:14:35but also in the wealthy current food exporting countries like the United States, Canada and Australia.
0:14:35 > 0:14:42And we are going to have to transform our entire agricultural system very quickly
0:14:42 > 0:14:45if we're going to avert a global food calamity.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52So, does this mean a return to horses, carts and hand tools on our farm?
0:14:52 > 0:14:58I personally wouldn't know how to do this, nor would most farmers today.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02The knowledge of how to farm in this manner is all but gone.
0:15:02 > 0:15:09However, on the next door farm is a woman who knows a thing or two about it.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12My dear old friend, Pearl.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16'Ello darlins, you waitin' for tea?
0:15:16 > 0:15:17You little beggars.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20They're handsome looking.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Oh, they are. They're sweet.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Do you know what that's for?
0:15:27 > 0:15:32- No idea.- Well, years ago we used to make hayricks.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Right, yeah, and put all the hay out to dry.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40Out to dry. Well, then you'd go up with your wagon, you see, and you'd want a wagon load of hay.
0:15:40 > 0:15:47And you'd have to cut the hay across to take away a section to put on the wagon...
0:15:47 > 0:15:51- and that you have to go like this. - Oh, and literally cut like that?
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Yeah, like that.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57- It's a good old weight, though, isn't it?- We weren't mice.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01I wasn't big but boy I was strong.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03The Lord gave me a lot of strength.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06He certainly did, He gave you all a lot of strength
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and we don't realise how easy we've got it now I think, do we?
0:16:09 > 0:16:11You don't.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17For those tasks too heavy for people, there were horses...
0:16:17 > 0:16:20and Pearl was an incredible horsewoman.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Oh, Pearl, look at that, wow.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30- Look at those. - Yeah, that's me bridles...
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Those are bridles. How many have you got, Pearl?
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Well, we had you see three big shires...
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Of course you did.
0:16:37 > 0:16:43When you had a horse and cart, well, it often was too big a load for one
0:16:43 > 0:16:50so you'd put that on the fore harness and that horse had a collar, that on it and two chains that came
0:16:50 > 0:16:53back and hooked into the front of the cart...
0:16:53 > 0:16:58- So when you needed a bit more extra horsepower, literally...- That's right, that one was there to pull.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00- To get you up a hill.- Yeah.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05At best, Pearl had a two horsepower system to help her with the heavy work.
0:17:05 > 0:17:11Today, farmers' tractors can be up to 400 horsepower.
0:17:11 > 0:17:12Trips off the tongue, doesn't it?
0:17:12 > 0:17:17400 horsepower... but think what it actually means...
0:17:17 > 0:17:19400 horses...
0:17:19 > 0:17:23that's the power we get from oil today.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Do you know, today's energy supply is equivalent in energy terms
0:17:27 > 0:17:30to 22 billion slaves working round the clock.
0:17:30 > 0:17:37So we're basically living with this enormous stock of slaves working for us in the form of oil.
0:17:37 > 0:17:44But by the end of this century, there ain't any more of them. And that's a huge change we're facing.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47It affects just absolutely every aspect of the modern world.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52I often think how times have changed
0:17:52 > 0:17:58because you see we do all this work just to keep our cows going but now
0:17:58 > 0:18:05a bit of silage boy and it's all done mechanically and you can go and sit down.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10Your sons, if they had to farm like you did, do you think they would do it now?
0:18:10 > 0:18:13No, I don't think they would, I think they'd have more sense.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15But I was happy.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21This way of farming is something we couldn't go back to even if we wanted to.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27When Pearl was young, there was ten times as many farmers in this country
0:18:27 > 0:18:31and only half the number of mouths to feed.
0:18:31 > 0:18:38Also, most British farmers today just don't have the physical strength for hard manual labour.
0:18:38 > 0:18:44The average age of a farmer in Britain now is 60.
0:18:44 > 0:18:50And even worse, there's only 150,000 of them left.
0:18:50 > 0:18:57As an industry, British farming has effectively been left to die.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01And in recent years, more and more of our food is coming from abroad.
0:19:04 > 0:19:11The UK is a net food importer by a long shot, so this is a... This is a very perilous situation.
0:19:11 > 0:19:17Because of course all of that import has to come by way of fossil fuelled
0:19:17 > 0:19:22vehicles of one kind or another, whether it's ships or airplanes.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27And as fossil fuels again become more scarce and expensive, that means that that food is going
0:19:27 > 0:19:33to become more expensive and the whole system will start to creak and groan around the edges.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40Realistically, the only changes I can make are right here.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43And even that isn't as straightforward as it may seem.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Ours is a traditional livestock farm.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54Raising beef and lamb on pasture may not look that fuel intensive,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56but there is one major problem.
0:19:59 > 0:20:06Bringing the cattle in in the winter for beef farming or dairy farming is just part and parcel
0:20:06 > 0:20:09of what we do in this country because of our climate.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11If we were to leave them out on the land,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15it's actually bad for the pastures because they carve up the grass
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and it hasn't got enough time to recover for the next spring.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24And obviously with the cattle in the barn, then they can't get to their grass.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29So we then have to bring their grass to them in the form of this hay.
0:20:30 > 0:20:38And the hay harvest by far is our biggest single use of machinery and fuel on this farm.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51This is why I was fascinated to hear about a farm up in Shropshire
0:20:51 > 0:20:55run by Charlotte Hollins and her brother Ben.
0:20:55 > 0:21:02Fordhall Farm is much the same size as our farm and like us, they raise cattle and sheep.
0:21:02 > 0:21:09But at Fordhall, the cattle stay out on the pasture all winter with little need for additional feed.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16I found it hard to believe, but as a result, the only machinery they have is a quad bike.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21The secret to this is underfoot.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24The grass.
0:21:24 > 0:21:30Even though we have hundreds of species of wild grass in this country, most farmers only use four,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33which they buy in a bag from a seed merchant.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37But not at Fordhall.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41And we've probably got almost 20 different species of grass here.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Some are hardier than others, some will grow quicker than others and some have roots which go deeper down
0:21:45 > 0:21:48in the soil and bring minerals up and some have got much shallower
0:21:48 > 0:21:52roots which help then protect the soil across the surface.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54If you come down and have a look at the grasses here,
0:21:54 > 0:22:00you can see straight away that you've got a great big tight structure there at the bottom.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01It's like Scottish Tweed.
0:22:01 > 0:22:07Exactly. And even when you get to the soil, it's so matted up with roots,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11it takes an awful lot of force and effort to break through it.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14So it doesn't get trodden up to a muddy mess straight away.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Then the cows and the sheep get the benefit of it
0:22:17 > 0:22:21and you get the benefit because you don't have to buy so much feed in.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25We know year on year it will work, there will be feed...
0:22:25 > 0:22:30We can produce beef, we can produce lamb, and we can sell it and we can make a living.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36And whatever happens to oil prices or anything else, we know we can keep going on that system.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41But these amazing grasses didn't happen by chance.
0:22:41 > 0:22:48Charlotte and Ben's late father, Arthur Hollins, was a bit of a local legend and a farming visionary.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Dad started his way of farming
0:22:50 > 0:22:54just after the war but he spent his whole lifetime developing the system.
0:22:54 > 0:23:00And it was only just before he died in 2005 that he actually said, "I'm happy with this.
0:23:00 > 0:23:06"I think I've got the grasses right, I'm happy with the pastures."
0:23:06 > 0:23:09The soils on our farm are completely different
0:23:09 > 0:23:16to the ones here at Fordhall, so the grasses Arthur encouraged may not suit our fields back in Devon.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21But that's not to say we couldn't try something similar with other types of grass.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27Knowing which species to encourage may be just a case of careful observation.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31And that's exactly what old Arthur had to do
0:23:31 > 0:23:35because the pastures here weren't always so rich.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Dad was always a great observer and he came through the woodland
0:23:38 > 0:23:42and he saw how much was growing here, especially during the summer months,
0:23:42 > 0:23:48and he wasn't touching it. But more importantly he wasn't paying for any of it to grow, it was just doing it.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52And he saw straightaway in the top few inches of leaf litter on the soil there was life,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56whether it be spiders, or woodlice or centipedes.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00And then you go down a little bit further and you start to see worms.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04But he couldn't see any of that in his soil he was ploughing and cultivating year on year.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06- There was no sign of any life. - It was dead.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10It was dead. And he got to then learn about all the millions of different
0:24:10 > 0:24:15bacteria and fungi that were also in the soil that keep it fertile, cycle the nutrients,
0:24:15 > 0:24:21that hold those nutrients in their bodies and release them to the plants, and they weren't in his soil.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26I mean, if you just look down, I mean, this is classic woodland soil, look how rich this is.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29- Yeah. Exactly.- And it's gorgeous, gorgeous rich topsoil.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33I mean, even there in that soil you've got bits of twig,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36the bits of leaf that are slowly being broken down to create soil.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39And the worms and everything else do that job for you.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42They eat it, process it through their bodies and you end up with worm poo,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45you know, which is soil, which feeds the plants.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50And without that life, you've got nothing to feed the plants to keep that system going.
0:24:51 > 0:24:58Taking the lessons he learned from the woodland, Arthur realised that to rejuvenate his fields
0:24:58 > 0:25:05he would have to go against one of the most fundamental principles of agriculture.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08The biggest thing Dad found was damaging the soil
0:25:08 > 0:25:11was exposure to sunlight. Overturning through ploughing.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16- And Dad always said it would be like humans ripping off their skin... You know, it's not nice.- No.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19And you know, and you don't survive.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23So why do it to the soil and why kill all those organisms in the soil
0:25:23 > 0:25:26that, at the end of the day, are your best friends?
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Are you telling us not to plough?.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Yes.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34We've been ploughing for 10,000 years. It's what farmers do.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Not ploughing is a pretty radical idea for any farmer.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47But looking at some old footage from our farm, the damage it causes is now pretty obvious.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52This is one of our fields back in the 80s.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56The life in the soil is a feast for the birds.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59After 20 years of the same treatment...
0:25:59 > 0:26:02No birds, the soil is dead.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09Turning the soil has been part of agriculture for millennia,
0:26:09 > 0:26:14but I guess with muscle power alone, the damage was slow to show.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19With diesel power, the destruction is much faster.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23The only reason modern agriculture can get away with killing the life
0:26:23 > 0:26:27in the soil is through another use of fossil fuel.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32This time it's by turning it into chemical fertilizer.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36These granules contain three essential plant nutrients.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Nitrates, phosphate and potash.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Over 95% of all the food grown in this country
0:26:48 > 0:26:52is totally reliant on synthetic fertilizer.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Without it, we'd be in serious trouble.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59We've used fossil fuels,
0:26:59 > 0:27:05essentially, to grow plants in soil that is otherwise dead.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07And that works as long as we have
0:27:07 > 0:27:11the cheap fossil fuels with which to make the nitrogen fertilizer
0:27:11 > 0:27:13and to transport all the inputs and so on.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17But in the end, you know, when we don't have the cheap fossil fuels,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20we're going to need living soil once again.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24And that living soil is something that requires time and care to build,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27it doesn't just happen overnight.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29BUZZING
0:27:29 > 0:27:35This field is far more typical for our farm. It's called Orchid Meadow.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39And it's never been ploughed or dosed with synthetic fertilizer,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42yet it's clearly thriving.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45It just does feel like the whole thing's heaving with life,
0:27:45 > 0:27:50there's so many flowers, on a sunny day the whole place comes alive.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54And you've got the birds in the trees, but it just buzzes -
0:27:54 > 0:27:57the whole thing buzzes and you've just got so many insects.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00If you step over this, especially in an evening,
0:28:00 > 0:28:05and you walk through this, the insects come up in great big clouds.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09And it's all built on the foundation of healthy, living soil.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15After seeing Fordhall Farm, I can see by developing these pastures,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18we could reduce our dependence on oil.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22But, no matter how good the grasses are,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25rearing cattle takes a lot of land.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30Every study on the matter concludes that if Britain is to become more self-sufficient,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32we need to eat less meat.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37Now I'm realising, we'll probably have to diversify,
0:28:37 > 0:28:42changing not just how we farm, but what we farm.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44And this where I get stuck.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Because I can see how you can farm cattle without ploughing
0:28:47 > 0:28:49and using natural fertility,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53but how do you grow everything else we need?
0:28:53 > 0:29:00Well, it seems there are a number of people around the world who have already grappled with this problem.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02They've developed a system known as permaculture.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08Britain's leading expert is Patrick Whitefield.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13Permaculture seems to challenge all the normal approaches to farming.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16You know, people often think
0:29:16 > 0:29:18that there are two ways of doing things.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22One is by drudgery and the other is by chucking fossil fuel at it.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Now, permaculture is about a third way of doing things
0:29:25 > 0:29:29and that is by design, by conscious design.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Basically, you're designing the labour out?
0:29:32 > 0:29:35- Or are you designing the need for that energy out?- Both.- OK.
0:29:35 > 0:29:42So why does it take so much manpower and energy to sustain farmland
0:29:42 > 0:29:45when you look at a natural eco-system,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48and we've got a wood behind us, and that can just keep going?
0:29:48 > 0:29:53Because this inherently is not what the landscape wants to do.
0:29:53 > 0:29:58If you leave the landscape totally alone, it would turn into something like that.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02So that is the low energy option.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05In the natural eco system, there's no work -
0:30:05 > 0:30:10well not by any humans, there's no waste, and yet it's thriving.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12You know, look at it.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19It's easy to forget Britain used to be a forested island.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And so much of the energy we expend in farming
0:30:24 > 0:30:27is just to stop it reverting back.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30But woodland has evolved over millions of years to be the most
0:30:30 > 0:30:34efficient growing system in our climate.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37In that respect, I can understand its appeal if you're trying
0:30:37 > 0:30:41to design the best way to grow food.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45But the obvious problem for me is, well, we can't eat trees.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50With all the greatest respect, a few wild berries, you can't...
0:30:50 > 0:30:53- It's not a cornfield. - Course it isn't, no, no.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55No, it's insignificant.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59What we've got to do is to take the principles of this
0:30:59 > 0:31:05and see how far we can bend them towards something more edible.
0:31:06 > 0:31:11'A food growing system based on natural ecology really appeals
0:31:11 > 0:31:17'to my naturalist side but the farmer's daughter in me needs a bit more convincing.'
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I suppose the big question is, could permaculture feed Britain?
0:31:21 > 0:31:26Yeah, good question, although the first question to ask actually is,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30can the present methods go on feeding Britain?
0:31:30 > 0:31:35- Yeah, I suppose, yeah.- And yeah, because actually, that is doubtful.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37Well, in the long term, it's absolutely certain that
0:31:37 > 0:31:41present methods can't because they're so entirely dependant on energy,
0:31:41 > 0:31:43on fossil fuel energy.
0:31:43 > 0:31:48So we haven't really got any choice other than to find something different.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54'Last year, I may have dismissed permaculture as not proper farming,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58'but with what I've learned about the oil situation,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01'I'm keen to see it in practice.'
0:32:01 > 0:32:04A visit to a permaculture smallholding in the mountains
0:32:04 > 0:32:06of Snowdonia has given me the opportunity.
0:32:08 > 0:32:14Now, the farmland I'm used to seeing is clumps of trees surrounded by fields.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17But this is the complete opposite,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20a collection of small clearings in a massive woodland.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25It may not look like a farm, but it clearly works.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29For a few days work each week, Chris Dixon and his wife
0:32:29 > 0:32:33produce all the fruit, veg and meat they need
0:32:33 > 0:32:35and the fuel to cook it.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39But 20 years ago when they arrived,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42it was degraded, marginal pasture land.
0:32:42 > 0:32:48The first thing they did was to let much of the land return to its natural state.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54Now the fertility has returned to the land.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Observing the forest as it regenerated offered
0:32:58 > 0:33:02all the inspiration they needed to design their smallholding.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05But it is a woodland still, and it is chaos.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09It is chaos, but chaos in this space is very, very highly ordered,
0:33:09 > 0:33:14very highly structured. It's just that we see it as untidy and a mess.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16Nature doesn't see it like that at all.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23Every plant is doing something useful, important, valuable on the site.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26So, for example, the gorse, fixing nitrogen,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29the bracken, collecting potash, that sort of thing.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34They gave me the feeling that every plant is important in some way.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42Everywhere you go on the Dixons' smallholding seems to be teeming with wildlife.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49How important is the biodiversity?
0:33:49 > 0:33:51So, we're hearing birds above us as well.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54How important is all of that to this system?
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Very important because by encouraging the birds, the habitat for birds,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01we're encouraging phosphate cycling through the system.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05So again, phosphates is another of the sort of crucial plant nutrients,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07every plant needs them.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11And phosphates, you'll find in things like insects and seed.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14So the birds that eat insects and seeds,
0:34:14 > 0:34:19they're accumulating phosphates and the excess comes out in their dung.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23So, up here in the mountains,
0:34:23 > 0:34:28there's no need for sacks of fossil fuel-derived nutrients,
0:34:28 > 0:34:34it's all done by nature - nitrate, potash, phosphate.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37And no need either, for petroleum based pesticides.
0:34:37 > 0:34:43We use ducks, Khaki Campbells, as slug control.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45We've kept ducks for 22 years
0:34:45 > 0:34:47and the Khaki Campbells are the best slug-eaters.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51- Oh, really, there's a big tip. - And it can be very difficult to find
0:34:51 > 0:34:55- slugs in here during the summer, which is great.- Fantastic, yeah.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03Chris's veg garden may look untidy to a regular gardener,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07but like in the woodland, every plant is serving a purpose.
0:35:07 > 0:35:13For example, some deter pests, some help drainage.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16Some encourage bees for pollination
0:35:16 > 0:35:21and others have long roots that pull up minerals deep from the soil.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27The largest clearings in the woodland are kept as pasture for the livestock.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29But the animals here don't just eat grass,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32they are benefiting from the trees as well.
0:35:32 > 0:35:38Nutrient-rich willow, lime and ash are all used as fodder crops.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Feeding trees to animals,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44this is something I would never have thought of.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54We don't have much woodland on our farm, but what we do have
0:35:54 > 0:35:58are massive hedges and now I'm seeing them in a different light.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03Well, I've always thought of a hedgerow as a land division between two fields.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05And I've always...
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Well, I suppose on this farm, thought of it as a wildlife corridor as well.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14But I've never actually thought of it as a yielding crop.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19But their potential even just as a fodder crop is huge.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24I'd never noticed before how much the cattle like eating ash.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27And there is also a wealth of fruits here
0:36:27 > 0:36:30and that's with doing nothing at all.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32With a bit of careful steering,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35who knows how much a hedge could produce.
0:36:35 > 0:36:41Ironically, I've learned hedgerows could be much more productive
0:36:41 > 0:36:45than the fields they enclose and require much less work.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49You don't have to add anything, it's self-maintaining,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52you know, you're not having to tend it,
0:36:52 > 0:36:54it's just there in abundance.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58And why is it there in abundance? Because it wants to grow here.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00It's the natural food that should be here.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04The only difference is it's growing upwards and not across.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Actually, by utilising the full height of trees and hedges,
0:37:08 > 0:37:13you can squeeze a much higher yield out of the same piece of land.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Turns out just up the road from our farm is the best example
0:37:17 > 0:37:21in Europe of just how far you can take this way of producing food.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26Until now, I had no idea it existed.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31The man behind this pioneering system is Martin Crawford.
0:37:31 > 0:37:38This is a forest garden where there is a big diversity of trees and shrubs and other crops
0:37:38 > 0:37:42all growing together, very carefully designed
0:37:42 > 0:37:48so everything is working together, to give many different yields from the same space.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54The trees are spaced very carefully so that there's enough light
0:37:54 > 0:38:00getting into the ground layers beneath so you can actually grow something productive.
0:38:02 > 0:38:09Forest gardens are one part of permaculture where design is clearly inspired by nature.
0:38:11 > 0:38:17Something that makes a natural woodland so productive is it grows on many layers.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22It's rather like having half a dozen fields stacked on top of each other.
0:38:23 > 0:38:31A forest garden imitates each woodland layer but uses more edible and desirable species.
0:38:31 > 0:38:37This one down below my feet here is very low, it's called Nepalese raspberry.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41And it's a fantastic plant and it protects the soil from winter rain.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46- And it saves on weeding. - Yes, so there is no weeding to be done, you see.- No.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50The garden floor is covered with fruit and veg and above them,
0:38:50 > 0:38:55the shrub layer is equally abundant, if not a little unusual.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57One of several hawthorn species.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Massive thorns on it, but much bigger fruits and much tastier fruits.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02And the other side is a mulberry.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05You never see mulberry bushes nowadays.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09You don't but they're really nice fruits and quite easy to grow really.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Another big salad crop from the forest garden are lime leaves.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17And I use them as a base, kind of a base ingredient, in a salad.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18- Right.- Like lettuce.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22- OK, so they are your replacement for lettuce?- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24Big lettuce, Martin!
0:39:27 > 0:39:33A bit higher up are the fruit trees, like apples, pears, medlars, plums and quinces.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38And then there's the canopy where those trees
0:39:38 > 0:39:42that aren't producing food are serving other essential functions,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45like cycling nutrients.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48And the Italian Alders are a very good example.
0:39:48 > 0:39:53They're very fast growing and supply a lot of nitrogen to the plants around.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55And this is through the root system?
0:39:55 > 0:39:58It's through the leaf litter, which is still quite high in nitrogen.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02And the root system, and also through beneficial fungi,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05which link up everything under the ground and move nutrients around.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08If there's a lot of nitrogen in one place in the soil
0:40:08 > 0:40:12and a lack of nitrogen in the other, the fungi will move it for you.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14Everything is here for a reason, isn't it?
0:40:14 > 0:40:18Everything's here for a reason, often multiple reasons.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20So, you know, behind us, the mint here,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23this is horse mint which is one of the native British mints.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28The main use for this mint is actually to attract beneficial insects.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33It's fantastic at attracting hoverflies, which of course eat aphids amongst other things.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37So, you know, by having plants that attract beneficial insects,
0:40:37 > 0:40:39I don't get any pest problems.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40So no pesticides?
0:40:40 > 0:40:43- That's right.- Fantastic. - That's right.
0:40:43 > 0:40:50Martin has over 550 species of plant in his forest garden.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55Surely a growing system this complex must require endless attention and work?
0:40:55 > 0:41:00Over a whole year, it probably averages out about a day a week,
0:41:00 > 0:41:02- a lot of that is harvesting.- Right.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05In terms of maintenance,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08well, say ten days a year.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10'That's ridiculous!
0:41:10 > 0:41:13'Compared to running a farm, that's virtually nothing.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16'But how much food does it produce?'
0:41:16 > 0:41:19If designed for maximum yield, it can be very high.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22This forest garden isn't designed for maximum yield
0:41:22 > 0:41:26cos I'm experimenting a lot and I have a lot of unusual crops I'm trying, and so on.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29So, you know, in terms of one designed for maximum yield,
0:41:29 > 0:41:35- you would be able to feed probably ten people an acre on a maximum yield forest garden.- Really? OK.
0:41:35 > 0:41:40That's roughly double the amount of people that we can
0:41:40 > 0:41:45currently feed from an average acre of conventional arable farmland.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50It is an amazing low energy, low maintenance system,
0:41:50 > 0:41:54but what you can't grow in a forest garden are cereal crops.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58And we are rather addicted to our high carb diets.
0:41:58 > 0:42:03But as oil gets more expensive and farming begins to change,
0:42:03 > 0:42:08it will become necessary for us to broaden our diets and embrace new foods.
0:42:08 > 0:42:14Down the road from his forest garden, Martin has created a four acre nut orchard.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17It would help enormously
0:42:17 > 0:42:21if we could move more towards nuts and less towards cereals
0:42:21 > 0:42:25cos they are much more sustainable because they grow on trees.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28In other parts of Europe, France and Italy, there's a big tradition
0:42:28 > 0:42:31of growing hazelnuts, sweet chestnuts, walnuts.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33You know, an orchard crop like a sweet chestnut,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37it takes far less energy and maintenance to grow than a field of wheat.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41'Less energy and maintenance maybe,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45'but can the yield from nuts really compare with a cereal crop?'
0:42:45 > 0:42:49You're talking sweet chestnuts, two tonnes an acre or something,
0:42:49 > 0:42:52which is pretty much what you get growing wheat organically.
0:42:52 > 0:42:58- And the composition of chestnut is almost identical, actually, to that of rice.- OK.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01And it's very similar to the other grains in terms of calorific value.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Even at this experimental stage, Martin's nut orchard
0:43:08 > 0:43:12and his forest garden have a huge output for such a tiny acreage.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19Back in Wales at the Dixons' equally small plot,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21there is a similar story of productivity.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24The whole site is seven acres,
0:43:24 > 0:43:31which now, after 22 years of the natural regeneration and the stuff we've done,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34it's too much for one family to harvest.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38- Wow.- So, you know, really, the smaller is better.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44To me, this is the big difference between farming and gardening.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48So I'm not a farmer, I would consider myself a gardener.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Are you trying to say gardeners are the way forward, rather then farmers?
0:43:52 > 0:43:55I wouldn't say that gardening is better than farming,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58gardening is different from farming.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01But I would suggest that, as far as I can tell from what I've done
0:44:01 > 0:44:05in my own practical experience, and from what I've tried to find out,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09that gardening with hand tools is more productive
0:44:09 > 0:44:13and more energy efficient than farming.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18It's the attention to detail that a gardener can give
0:44:18 > 0:44:21to a small plot that makes it so productive.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24A veg garden with an experienced gardener can produce
0:44:24 > 0:44:29up to five times more food per square metre than a large farm.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34Supermarkets reliant on transportation
0:44:34 > 0:44:37and the industrial scale farms that supply them
0:44:37 > 0:44:40are unlikely to survive as oil declines.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44But a host of veg plots, allotments and smallholdings
0:44:44 > 0:44:46could easily make up for their loss.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48But only if we have a lot more growers.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52The dominant demographic trend of the 21st century, I think,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54is going to be re-ruralisation.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57That's not to say that the cities will all disappear,
0:44:57 > 0:45:03but the proportion of people involved directly in food production is going to increase.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Think back to the Second World War, for example,
0:45:06 > 0:45:12there was the Victory Garden movement where everyone was growing a garden plot and something like 40% of fruit
0:45:12 > 0:45:19and vegetables were being produced from front yards and back yards and vacant lots, and so on.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22That's a model to imagine and look back to.
0:45:22 > 0:45:29But we also will need a lot more full-time farmers, otherwise, you know, what are we going to be eating?
0:45:30 > 0:45:36Feeding ourselves as oil goes into decline is clearly going to require
0:45:36 > 0:45:43a national effort and, in an ideal world, a bit of government leadership.
0:45:43 > 0:45:49But for my part, weaning this farm off fossil fuel is all I can do.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53And the pioneers I've met recently are a big inspiration.
0:45:53 > 0:45:59Now I've learnt to observe the land, and work with it rather then fight against it.
0:45:59 > 0:46:05I'm fascinated to find out what species of grass we have, and how I can improve our pastures.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10And how we can make the most out of our trees to benefit our cattle.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15But also I think we need to produce more than just livestock.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20Who knows, in a few years from now, we might even have a forest garden here.
0:46:20 > 0:46:25Although I'm not quite sure what Dad would make of that.
0:46:25 > 0:46:31But for any of these ideas to work, it's essential to continue preserving the farm's wildlife
0:46:31 > 0:46:37and work even harder to encourage greater biodiversity.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42Biodiversity is far more important to us than I ever gave it credit for.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47I just always thought it was pretty and it was, you know, it was a species we lived with.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50You know, now I've learned the big lesson that
0:46:50 > 0:46:56it keeps us going, it gives us food, it protects our food
0:46:56 > 0:47:01and it's crucial that we keep it.
0:47:01 > 0:47:08I'm so grateful for what my uncle and my dad have done on this farm because they've kept it all.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14But there is still so much work to be done here.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18And what drives me to make our farm a farm of the future
0:47:18 > 0:47:24is the knowledge that I have no other choice but to try.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26Of all the people I met,
0:47:26 > 0:47:31I think Dr Colin Campbell puts it best.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34What we can say now without any shadow of doubt
0:47:34 > 0:47:39is that petroleum man is just about extinct by the end of this century.
0:47:39 > 0:47:47That poses the thorny, difficult question, will Homo sapiens be as wise as his name implies
0:47:47 > 0:47:53and figure out a way to live without oil, which is the bloodstream of virtually everything?
0:47:53 > 0:47:59And it seems to me the sooner we begin that transition
0:47:59 > 0:48:02to a new, low-energy future,
0:48:02 > 0:48:03the easier the task will be.
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