Alltech’s Dr. Mark Lyons commissioned journalists to follow science, find truth

NEW HOPE, Pa. — ‘World Without Cows’ is approaching the 1-year anniversary of its completion, and the film continues making waves on the international film festival circuit. On Aug. 21, co-creators Brandon Whitworth and Michelle Michael, two award-winning journalists, brought their first feature-length documentary to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where it was selected by the New Hope Film Festival Committee to premier during their 10-day event, alongside 72 films from 16 countries.

They walked away with the award for Best Documentary, along with nominations in three additional categories — animal welfare, cultural spirit and best educational film.

World Without Cows has already been screened at 13 festivals and nearly 200 private showings through Alltech worldwide — including for the European Parliament.

New Hope Film Festival founders admitted initial concern that the film might “appear as a shill for animal agriculture,” but after screening it, they found “the information to be consequential, and the film rises to the occasion.”

Thom Michael Mulligan and D.F. Whipple noted the journalists’ complete editorial freedom had resulted in a film they described as “scientifically dense” with “top notch production value,” while praising its “movement” and the viewing experience through “phenomenal editing.”

Being nominated for both cultural spirit and educational awards validates the co-creators’ goal: not to preach, but to show — through diverse eyes — what a world without cows might look like, or in the end, what a world with cows really means.

“If you follow the science, you’ll find the truth,” said Whitworth during a Farmshine interview at a nearby coffee shop before the show.

 Neither journalist grew up in agriculture. Whitworth is a former television news photojournalist for CBS and NBC affiliates; Michael a former military correspondent and solo video journalist. For the past decade, the two traveled the globe filming short stories on hundreds of farms, seeing sustainability firsthand.

“We would meet people with the huge task of producing food and come away with so much respect, and then we’d scroll social media or turn on CNN or open a newspaper, and see all this negative,” Michael recalls. “What we saw with our own two eyes did not match what we were seeing anywhere else, especially for cows.”

They began questioning what they might be missing, which led to their three-to-four-year journey to 40 locations in 22 countries on five continents, focused entirely on cows.

The turning point came when Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, commissioned the production after seeing Oatly’s 2019 Super Bowl commercial featuring a man in a field singing the jingle: “Wow! Wow! No Cow!”

“Mark said: ‘I’ve had it. Fine. Why don’t you go find out for me what a world without cows looks like,’” Michael recalls. “That’s where the idea and the funding — which is the hardest thing — came from.”

Alltech and the Planet of Plenty initiative, which was launched by Dr. Lyons in 2019, are credited upfront in the film, but Whitworth and Michael emphasize they were given a budget and total editorial control.

“We had no idea where this would take us,” Michael said.

 “When we first got the greenlight, I wondered what happens when we find a version of the truth that doesn’t align with agriculture? But each step of the way, science kept backing up the truth about cows and agriculture,” Whitworth added.

Production began during the Covid pandemic, when travel was impossible. Michael and Whitworth conducted nearly 200 online interviews with scientists, researchers, climatologists, soil health experts, conservationists, dairy and beef farmers and ranchers, the alternative protein sector, even vegans.

“We asked them that question: ‘For you, in your line of expertise, what does a world without cows look like — to you?’ Our spreadsheet was over 1000-answers long,” Whitworth pointed out. “But in the end, everything boiled down to three things: Cows affect the culture and economy, their role in feeding this growing population, and ultimately the impact on the climate.”

The mission, he explained, was to remain scientifically driven and to tell the story from a global perspective. “This is not pro-cow or anti-cow, it is pro-dialogue,” he said.

World Without Cows is a deep dive that challenges the often-oversimplified climate narrative. The feature-length documentary explores the true impact of cattle and the consequences of a world without them.

After viewing the film, my impression is that it captures the cultural, environmental, and food security context of cows across the globe – with a river of science running through it.

Viewers see the rumen as “a world within a world,” the upcycling of inedible plants into nutrient-dense food, the cultural heritage of using the whole cow, the food security and soil and climate science elements, and the cycle of methane, of carbon, of life.

The film effortlessly transports the viewer from Africa to India, Europe to North and South America with stunning imagery and strong editing.

• In India, the filmmakers captured the striking sight of idle, essentially homeless cows, foraging outside their hotel and along roadsides, as well as small-holder dairy farms bringing milk together in small cooperatives and children lined up at a nearby school for their morning milk (no doubt whole milk) with reverence and appreciation.

• In Africa, viewers are immersed in cow-centered culture, where everything provided by the cow is used for everything needed by the people.

• In North and South America, cattle and land use are explored on dairy farms, beef feedlots, and cattle ranches.

• In England, viewers encounter the perspective of a vegan futurist, as well as a research project seeking to demonstrate closed-loop food security, without animals, and the challenges the project has faced, unable to accomplish it.

 • In Singapore, the lens turns to alternative and lab-created proteins. These innovations reshuffle existing ingredients rather than truly addressing the challenge of feeding a growing population, against the backdrop of cows performing a unique service no lab can replicate, that of upcycling cellulose — the world’s most abundant but indigestible ingredient — into nutrient-dense food that has sustained humanity for millennia.

• At Oxford University, climatologists explain how agricultural methane is tallied as carbon dioxide equivalents, while noting the current Global Warming Potential (GWP) equivalents don’t tell the full story about cows and methane, and touching on why a new and more accurate GWP equation is needed.

• At UC-Davis, Dr. Frank Mitloehner compares methane emissions to “a bathtub with the drain always open,” where constant herds emit methane at the same time it is flowing out of the drain.

Each of these elements, and more, offer a different perspective, but as Michael points out, “It seemed there had to be a middle, a place where we can spark a deeper dialogue for solutions.”

 As filming progressed, the journalists said they found themselves digging deeper for facts while also pursuing a broader vision to bridge divides and empower farmers and ranchers.

“People aren’t as far apart as they think,” says Michael. She recalls a California film festival, where World Without Cows was part of an environmental block for vegans. Afterward, attendees said they were hearing about cows in a way never presented before, without persuasion, and wanted to know how to participate.

“They were excited to see ‘the cow people,’” Michael noted.

In other screenings, farmers and ranchers said the film left them feeling “seen” and “heard.”

“For a journalist, that is everything,” Whitworth affirmed.

Though the film runs 86 minutes, it was built from 200 terabytes of footage. Whitworth, Michael, and a support team are developing valuable additional content for classrooms and other venues.

With more international festivals on the schedule, the goal is to land the film on a major streaming platform. Meanwhile, private group screenings can be arranged through the official website: worldwithoutcows.com

In fact, on Aug. 22, near Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Chaneys offered a public viewing under the stars at Chaney’s Dairy Barn, with ice cream made from milk from their Jersey cows, of course.

When asked what main thought the co-creators took from their journey, both mentioned hope as a new baseline for continuing this important conversation.

Watching the film, I found myself making mental notes of the words people chose, as they were asked the core question. Instead of imagining a world without cows, it became evident that across cultures and continents, cows mean the world, displayed in words like: “Connected. Part of me. Mother. Anchor. Lifeline. Everything.”

Walking through New Hope’s art-centered streets, past a quaint ice cream shop with a sign reading ‘Moo Hope’, it seemed fitting that a few hours later, this film would leave me with just that: moo-hope — hope that meaningful dialogue, born of a deeper respect, understanding, and science, can make all the difference — for a world with cows.

To learn more about the film and access additional content, visit worldwithoutcows.com and follow World Without Cows on social media.