Magic Mud

Back in 2015, professor in geology Minik Rosing became aware that the millions of tons of glacial rock flour produced by the ice sheet each year might be an effective soil improver - especially on depleted tropical soils. Minik Rosing launches a comprehensive research program to test the idea. The film follows the long and sometimes strenuous research process from laboratory experiments over field experiments in Denmark and Ghana. The research process has major ups and downs. Minik Rosing and the research group invest heavily in a collaboration with a Brazilian research station. But bureaucracy and communication problems cause collaboration to crumble. The Danish experiments culminate in Carlsberg’s barley test fields, where the head of the company’s research is caught with total surprise because the flour has caused a yield increase to an extend that is “completely crazy”. It’s a story about a scientist who is searching for a constructive answer to important global challenges. The intention of the film is to provide a basic understanding of both the complexity of the global challenges, but also how complicated it is to find relevant solutions.