EDMONTON – There were no red carpets, designer dresses or glittering celebrities at a special film premiere held during the recent Farmfair show in Edmonton.
Instead, the stars were ordinary people talking in three minute vignettes about their connection to the land.
Alberta’s Cows and Fish program sponsored and produced the digital story telling project as a way to show the public what ranchers do to produce food while protecting the land and water.
“Stewardship is health care for the land,” said executive director Noreen Ambrose.
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“Farmers and ranchers were environmental stewards before the celebrities discovered it,” added agriculture minister Evan Berger.
Ranchers Enhancing Alberta’s Landscapes, or REAL Beef, featured seven stories, including one from a consumer devoted to local food. The others were men and women who shared pictures, music and three minutes’ worth of personal narration about what they have done to improve their property.
“We are all just tenants of God’s country,” Tony Bruder said in his film God’s Country,in which he talked about his life on the ranch near Pincher Creek, Alta.
“I know my neighbours, but the consumers don’t know me,” he said.
Erin Butters of Cochrane, Alta., talked of how she and her family protect the water on its way to Calgary, while Sean McGrath of Vermilion, Alta., shared his life as a fifth generation rancher who is rebuilding the landscape for his children.
Don Ruzicka of Killam, Alta., called his film,I want to be your farmer.
He talked about encouraging wildlife to come back after he noticed in 1989 that no meadowlarks sang on his place. He began to restore the landscape using a dedicated holistic management plan. He counted 41 species of wildlife on his ranch in 2004 and 84 four years later. Eleven years later, meadowlarks returned.
Cows and Fish has produced 50 short features, which can be viewed at www.cowsandfish.org.
The next public viewing is scheduled for March in Lethbridge.
