Héloïse Goy, with Alexis Patri
The actor and videographer Nicolas Meyrieux, who officiated on YouTube and Franceinfo, presents Monday evening on France 5 “New seeds”, a documentary in which he follows the beginnings of a couple of young farmers who fight to create a farm and a ethical food production.
This is the story of a Parisian who gave up everything to settle in the Landes and pass his farming diploma. Nicolas Meyrieux is an actor and a videographer who has made productions for YouTube which have accumulated hundreds of thousands of views and Franceinfo, and has also done shows on the environment. He directed the documentary “New seeds”, broadcast Monday evening on France 5, which follows a young couple, and himself, in search of a model of ethical agriculture.
“For five years, I made videos for Franceinfo where I talked about societal issues, and especially environmental issues. My research work for these videos gave me, little by little, the desire to change my way of life” , explains to Europe 1 Nicolas Meyrieux. “I made all the changes you can make when you live in the city. But that wasn’t enough for me. I needed to go further. I told myself that I had to try to food autonomy and that I do pedagogy around it.”
“Agriculture as we practice it today is going straight into the wall”
It is with Zoé and Anthony, a young couple of farmers building a farm that works on permaculture, that Nicolas Meyrieux learns the basics of the trade. But the return to nature is also sometimes an obstacle course for these three enthusiasts. But what follows also has some great surprises in store for these young farmers. “We didn’t set out to make a documentary film: the initial objective was to make a series”, specifies Nicolas Meyrieux.
“I met this couple who recovered conventional corn land. Today, 90% of our agricultural land is conventional monoculture. However, we now know that agriculture as we practice it today Today is going straight into the wall, because it is dependent on hydrocarbons”, he observes. “We have to find a new model. These people are completely in the problem of our century: can we cultivate on dead land? But we see few documentaries on permaculture farms at the beginning, when it’s a hassle, when it’s shitty. I really wanted us to follow this couple to find out if they will succeed in making this dead land a paradise on earth.”
The documentary New seeds is to be seen Monday evening on France 5 at 9 p.m. and on FranceTV Slash.