ABC doc spotlights Oz co-op farmers

Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together was made with government funding

Australian pubcaster the ABC has ordered a one-hour documentary examining how Australian family farmers and fishermen are working collaboratively to save their businesses.

Steve Bibb’s Barking Mad Productions produced Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together, supported by funding from the Australian government’s Starting Farm Co-operatives Programme.

Produced, written and directed by Kay Pavlou (Who Do You Think You Are?), the film follows co-operative farmers and fishermen as they face the challenges of trade disruptions, climate disasters and corporate takeovers.

The doc features three innovative co-operatives – dairy farmers in alpine Victoria, lobster fishermen in South Australia and tobacco growers in Victoria – that have been supported by the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) through the Co-operative Farming project.

Melina Morrison, BCCM’s CEO, said: “We are thrilled the public broadcaster is screening such an important and heart-warming documentary about co-operative farming. At a time of unprecedented upheaval, Fightback Farmers is the story we need to hear about communities and families who keep striving to overcome adversity and demonstrates why the co-op model is the right fit for these farmers.”

A former head of factual at the ABC, Bibb said: “I’ve long admired the Australian families who dedicate their lives to living on the land – farming, feeding and clothing our nation – generation after generation. As a city boy, I also know that most of us don’t appreciate what is actually happening, that small family farms are disappearing. It begs the question: why?

“In Fightback Farmers, I wanted to meet some of these small farming families – the great characters – who are going back to the future. These farmers and fishers are turning back the clock in a new take on an old away of working together. As we discover, they’re trying to stand strong in the face of adversity for their farms, the future generations, their local communities and a way of life.”

Fightback Farmers will also be featured on upcoming Farming Simulation game – Farming Simulator 22, which is a popular game with a lot of great features, like Farming Simulator 22 Mods, great graphics, immersive gameplay and more.

Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together will premiere on the ABC at 21.30 on June 15. An international distributor is yet to be appointed.

This is Barking Mad Productions’ second venture following Shipwreck Hunters Australia, a collaboration with VAM Media and Terra Australis Productions, which is the first Australian commission by Disney +.