In Europe, the number of farmland birds has dropped by 17% since 1990. But why are they disappearing? One reason: most farmland birds breed on the ground. What hasn’t been a problem for years now carries a high risk. In the last 20 years, agriculture has changed so radically that there are hardly any cows out on pastures today. Instead, they are fed grass silage in the barn, which is harvested three to four times during the birds’ breeding season. So, on a regular basis, either the nests are destroyed, or the chicks are killed during mowing.
This film follows a family of farmers who run a conventional dairy farm and documents why the financial pressure limits the family’s ability to protect the birds. Filmmaker Heiko De Groot shows how intensified agriculture causes the decline of birds and how important birds are for us humans.
