Filming Potash for Life at Work

Camera, potash – action! Almost three years into our work, we wanted to capture on film how and where we are working in the Potash for Life initiative in India – and the results for farmers.

Green Shoots Patrick Harvey filming potash fertilizer

Film crew at work

UK-based Green Shoots Productions film makers Susie Emmett and Patrick Harvey joined the Potash for Life team at work in four states of India. They worked morning to dusk to meet as many of the agronomists and farmers involved as possible in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra which are some of the states where we work. “It was an action-packed itinerary so that we could meet and film as many people as possible to illustrate what Potash for Life is doing”, explained Susie Emmett. “Everyone is very welcoming and keen to show the difference that potash is making to crop health, yields and quality.”

Meeting and greeting

Accompanied by Potash for Life Project Director Dr Surinder Bansal, and key personnel from each state, the film crew covered a lot of ground to see as many aspects of our work as possible

Filming took place at Demonstration Plots for soybean, sugar cane, maize, rice and tomatoes. Interviews were recorded with the agronomists and the farmer hosts. The itinerary also included time to attend several of our Field Days – from small gatherings at the road edge in Uttar Pradesh to large meetings of several hundreds of guest extension workers at the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University in Raipur.

Green Shoots Patrick Harvey filming soyabean Potash Demonstration Plot positive results with host farmer

Seeing the science

All that we do in India as Potash for Life is underpinned by the science of soil health and crop nutrition. At the Soil Testing Laboratory in Mandasaur, Madhya Pradesh, Assistant Soil Testing Officer Mr. Nitesh Kumaryadav explained on film how testing up to 75,000 soil samples brought in by farmers from the surrounding area is showing that many soils are deficient in potash. He is also seeing how applying potash fertilizer is making crops drought resistant, an important feature especially in the dry conditions of 2015.

Watch the Potash for Life film collection

After hours of recording time the next step for the Green Shoots film production team involves hours of editing to produce six films in total. You can enjoy our Potash for Life film collection. We hope you enjoy what you see and hear and put the film action, evidence and messages into action in your farming whether in India or elsewhere in the world.