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Soil and Farmland (10)
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The DikesRoger Blais 1955 22 minA dramatized presentation of the work of the Maritime Marshland Rehabilitation Administration in the reclaiming of flooded agricultural regions along the Bay of Fundy. Through the account of a dike-keeper, the film describes the destruction that follows the breaking of long-neglected dikes during autumn rains and shows how M.M.R.A. engineers are cooperating with New Brunswick land-owners in the big task of keeping at bay the inundations of the sea. -
Eye Witness No. 151949 11 minThese vignettes from 1949 cover various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included here are: Man-Made Niagara: the construction of the Des Joachims hydro plant on the Ottawa River adds to Ontario's power resources. Irrigation Revitalizes Dust Bowl: In the southern Alberta drylands, the St. Mary's River is being harnessed to provide life-giving irrigation for prairie crops. Underwater Harvest: Lobster season in New Brunswick provides choice seafoods for epicurean tables.
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The Fight for True FarmingEve Lamont 2005 1 h 29 minIn this documentary, crop and animal farmers in Quebec, the Canadian West, the US Northeast and France offer solutions to the social and environmental scourges of factory farming. Driven by the forces of globalization, rampant agribusiness is harming the environmemt and threatening the survival of farms. The proliferation of GMO crops is a further threat to biodiversity as well as to farmers' autonomy. In Europe as well as North America, a current of resistance bringing together farmers and consumers insists that it is possible - indeed imperative - to grow food differently.
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The Great ResistanceDenys Desjardins 2008 1 h 17 minIn the 1930s, in the throes of the Great Depression, the government relocated more than 80,000 citizens to found a new settlement in the virgin forests of Quebec's Abitibi region. After enduring backbreaking work to clear the land, however, many left, seeking a better life in the city or as labourers for the large corporations that had come to exploit the North's valuable resources. The Lalancette family, however, have persisted in forging their future on the land from one generation to the next, earning their keep from farming, and defying the constraints of globalization and the mining and forestry companies that control the area. Revisiting the heritage of Quebec filmmakers who documented Abitibi, following in the footsteps of Pierre Perrault, among others, this documentary traces a defining chapter of Quebec history and raises fundamental questions about regional development.
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Land in TrustEvelyn Cherry & Lawrence Cherry 1949 27 minA film on soil conservation, showing problems facing farmers in different areas of Canada. Many scenes of soil eroded, gouged and leached out by water, and of soil blowing away, prove the ominous necessity of understanding and preserving the land if we are to continue to reap vital crops. The development of soil through the centuries, the particular conservation problems in eastern and western Canada, and how soil fertility may be restored and maintained are dealt with in detail.
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MoundsTom Jacques & Nicolas Paquet 2020 3 minIMPORTANT: For the optimal experience, please use headphones and turn up the volume.
This playful documentary by Nicolas Paquet and Tom Jacques stages the monumental dance of the peat vacuum harvester, a gigantic industrial machine conceived in Rivière-du-Loup. On top of a dramatic soundtrack composed with invented instruments, workers are busy forming large mounds, which are seen in all their aesthetic splendor through the eyes of the two creators. A nod to the NFB film De la tourbe et du restant, shot in the peat bogs of the Bas-Saint-Laurent during the 1970s.
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Soil for TomorrowLawrence Cherry 1945 43 minAn account of the depletion and erosion of soil on the Canadian prairies, and of the restoration measures taken under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act of 1935.
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Water for the PrairiesLawrence Cherry 1951 18 minThis 1950s' film looks at the measures to preserve water flow from the Rocky Mountains. With the steady falling of the water table, the exploitation of timber stands and the recession of glaciers, water conservation was an urgent concern of the Alberta and federal governments.
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Waterfowl - A Resource in DangerDon Virgo 1964 16 minThis nature documentary shows the immense flocks of birds, their habits and their dependence on the wetlands of the Prairies. The Prairies are the incubators of vast numbers of Canadian waterfowl, principally ducks, but as more land is drained and cultivated there are fewer breeding grounds. Produced by the NFB for the Canadian Wildlife Service.
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Windbreaks on the PrairiesEvelyn Cherry 1943 21 minThis short film serves as a cautionary tale to farmers who recklessly cut down trees on their land. When prairie farmers engaged in this practice to facilitate plowing, they discovered that the trees had served as windbreaks protecting top soil from erosion. The Dominion Department of Agriculture's experimental station at Indian Head, Saskatchewan, cultivated acres of young trees for distribution to farmers.
