REMEMBER Backyard Blitz, that show on the telly in which teams of beautiful young things would make over domestic backyards?

Unwitting residents, usually going through hard times, would arrive home from a short break to find their backyards - trees, shrubs, pavements and garden beds - looking a picture and fit to function as an entertaining zone-cum-family haven where they could show off a little gardening or design prowess, even if it was somebody else's prowess.

Imagine taking that idea and trying it with farms instead of gardens.

They haven't given it a name yet, but the makers of a planned documentary are about to give down-at-heel farms a similar on-screen makeover.

The mind boggles with promo lines:

Saltpans expanding?

Give the farm fixers a whirl.

Crops not growing?

Disease in your dairy herd?

Try the TV team.

The idea is the brainchild of Sydney-based doco team Kylee Ingram and Laurie Critchley, whose company, Australian Documentaries, has made docos, promos and educational videos, plus ads, on subjects as diverse as ecotourism, stroke recovery and post-tsunami fundraising appeals.

Kylee, a former sports broadcaster, and Laurie, a surfer with a string of TV show credits, such as the ABC Dynasties series, to her name, reckon there's an untold story out there about Australian farmers' ability to look after the land.

"Australia is very good at exporting its landscape," says Kylee, in reference to those gorgeous images that grace tourism brochures.

But what's really undersold, she says, is the way farmers turn around "broken" land, making it productive, sustainable and profitable.

Naturally, there are distinct and necessary differences from Backyard Blitz in the planned doco's format.

First, farm makeovers take longer than a weekend; Kylee and Laurie think two years is more likely.

Second, they're calling for other farmers to help recommend the makeovers.

Thirdly, looks are one thing, but this will be all about reviving landscapes and farms that are, in the most apt rural parlance, buggered.

What this means, of course, is that they need farms and farmers to be part of it.

That's the sticky bit.

Will farmers swallow their pride and put their farms up for a makeover?

"We're looking for farmers who are in a pretty bad situation plus those who've made great steps, for example, reduced their nutrient run-off into iconic places like the Great Barrier Reef," Kylee says.

"Farmers are really on the frontline of the environmental debate, but they don't really get recognition for how hard it can be or the steps they are taking to improve the environment.

"We won't start filming until next year, but we want to get a sense now of what's out there and the sorts of stories we can tell."

Those nominating for the doco have to be open to the idea of someone else coming in and telling them what to do.

Now there's a challenge.

It's hardly Farmer Wants A Wife, thank heavens.

You could also get a pretty good profile for your enterprise out of this.

And if you're not the self-marketing type, think of it this way: you'll get a makeover that'll help change the way the world views farmers.

I must tell my farming brothers up north. Maybe Kylee and co could fix up a little rain for them.