Beretta Farms makes appearance in new documentary

By Julia Galt

King City's Beretta Farms continued a spate of high-profile media appearances with a recent feature in Grass Farmers: Regenerative Agriculture & the Canadian Grasslands, an A&W produced documentary now streaming on Crave and CTV.
Grass Farmers examines regenerative agriculture and low-impact ranching in Canada, exploring how making soil health a top priority can lead to healthier grass, healthier cattle, and, ultimately, a healthier earth.
Regenerative agriculture, which is practiced by Beretta Farms, is a farming and grazing practice that claims to reverse climate change by rebuilding organic matter and restoring biodiversity in soil. Cattle live off the land, returning nutrients to the earth and, in turn, helping grasslands flourish.
Well-managed grasslands with grazing cattle can also capture carbon in the soil, preventing it from lingering in the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.
Beretta Farms co-founder Mike Beretta and daughter Lieschen make a strong case for practicing “green” regenerative agriculture in Grass Farmers, marking the latest in a series of A&W partnerships – including last year's national grass-fed beef advertising campaign – that stretch back years.
Shot on the Beretta ranch in the summer of 2019, Grass Farmers was an opportunity for the Beretta family to get to know the crew, educate them on regenerative agriculture, and tour them around the farm on horseback. The benefits of grass-fed farming, from the flourishing grasslands to the rich, healthy soil, could be seen- and documented- firsthand.
“The documentary sheds a lot of light on how cattle production can be green,” said Lieschen Beretta. “It showcases ranches in Canada who have been raising cattle this way from the beginning, and how a simple concept can become a huge player in climate change.”
Their relationship with A&W as suppliers of organic, grass-fed, and antibiotic and hormone-free beef has been going on for nine years now. In total, the family has been in the grass-fed beef business for nearly 30 years.
As Beretta Farms' ranch manager, Lieschen intends to continue her parents' long-standing commitment to regenerative agriculture by raising awareness of the practice wherever she can.
“I just want to help continue making a shift in the beef industry as a whole,” said Beretta. “Instead of the beef industry being blamed for global warming, let's focus on these regenerative practices and raising cattle that help keep soil healthy and promote carbon sequestration.”
With awards including Best Canadian Documentary at the 2021 Montreal Independent Film Festival and an official selection at 2021's Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, the message behind Grass Farmers has certainly found footing with farmers and consumers alike.
“The importance of this documentary is the education piece behind it: from educating everyday consumers to the cattle producers who want to make more changes to their management practices,” said Beretta.
Grass Farmers: Regenerative Agriculture & the Canadian Grasslands is available for free on Crave and CTV until Feb. 27.