Roots So Deep

“Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there)” is a 4-part documentary series all about inventive farmers and maverick scientists building a path to solving climate change with hooves, heart and soil. Join for a sneak-peek viewing of Episodes 1 & 4.

Can an underutilized way to graze cattle, that mimics the way bison once roamed the land, help get farmers out of debt, restore our depleted soils, rebuild wildlife habitat and draw down huge amounts of carbon? Cattle have been seen as eco-villains for a long time. What if they can help save us from catastrophic climate change?

“Roots So Deep” is guided by director and wrangler of scientists Peter Byck as he meets farmers on both sides of the fence – the folks practicing an adaptive way to graze, and their neighbors set in their family’s generations-old method of doing things. Byck’s team of scientists are measuring what’s happening on both sides of the fences – exploring if this adaptive grazing could help slow down climate change.

And one question looms over the whole series: even if the science shows that the adaptive way to graze is better for the land and the farmers’ pocket books, will the old school farmers change, will they adopt a different method? Will they evolve into climate heroes? Will they save our friggin’ asses from the impending climate catastrophe?

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Byck has over three decades’ experience as a director, producer and editor. His 1st documentary, “Garbage,” won the South by Southwest Film Festival, screened in scores of festivals and played at the Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center. He is the director, producer and writer of “carbon nation,” his 2nd documentary, which won the IVCA Clarion Award, the GreenMe Global Festival, and was runner-up for the EMA Award.

In 2020, Byck completed Carbon Cowboys, a 10-part documentary short film series, focused on regenerative grazing. The shorts screened in numerous festivals. “One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts” in the series, won Best Short Documentary at a string of festivals, including at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and Phoenix Film Festival amongst others.

His current production is an episodic documentary series in 4 parts, “Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there).” The series follows Byck as he works with a group of farmers and scientists participating in a large research project to examine whether cattle grazing can be a benefit to the environment, if done differently from the modern-day, harmful, conventional agriculture practices. The science team compares conventional grazing and adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing to see if the latter turns farming into a benefit for the land, the animals, and the farmers, and a carbon mitigation tool for climate change. Along the way, the viewer encounters endearing and engaging profiles of American farmers and their experiences.

Director Statement

I became aware of climate change in 2006 and immediately wanted to know whether there were solutions. We set out to find the innovators who were laying the groundwork for a clean energy future. That lead us to making the 2011 film, “carbon nation,” a big-tent film about climate change solutions, where folks of all political stripes could find common ground.

One of the most intriguing solutions we came across in the making of that film, was the carbon sequestration potential of healthy soils. Regenerative agriculture to improve soils kept coming up. Many modern agricultural practices damage soil and release stored carbon, but evidence suggests that alternative regenerative agriculture practices, can sequester carbon. I came to learn of ranchers practicing a method called “Adaptive Multi-Paddock” (AMP) grazing, that involves using small-sized paddocks to provide short duration, heavy impact grazing for cows, and long recovery and rest periods for fields after the animals grazed it. The method mimics the migrations of wild herd animals, such as elk, bison and deer. Anecdotal evidence suggested these ranchers were improving their soils exponentially and limited studies showed they were also capturing significant amounts of carbon.

I was captivated by these stories and started filming the “Carbon Cowboys” web series – 10 short films on ranchers practicing AMP grazing. Along the way I met scientists working on regenerative ag. We put together a team to study AMP grazing in across-the-fence-line comparisons with conventional farmers. We were fortunate to meet and work with 10 amazing farmers and their families during the research project. We filmed the entire process along the way. “Roots So Deep” is the end product; a 4-part documentary series, telling the stories of the AMP research project’s scientists and farmers.