World Without Cows Screenings in Wisconsin and Nebraska: Full Theater Locations and Tour Dates
World Without Cows is a documentary about a question most climate coverage treats as already answered: what actually happens if cattle disappear? Michelle Michael and Brandon Whitworth, both former journalists, spent five years shooting across 22 countries and more than 40 locations on five continents. After premieres in Dublin and London and screenings in Los Angeles and New York, the film is now heading to the American Midwest, which is where it probably should have gone first. Wisconsin and Nebraska live with this argument every day, so a film about livestock and emissions lands differently there than it does in a coastal arthouse.
The North American tour hits both states on the same night, October 14, 2026. That’s ten days from now, so if you’re planning to go, don’t wait on it. The release works like a one-night town hall spread across several cities, with local farm groups and cinema chains helping to organize it. And the venue-level showtimes still need to be confirmed on the official site, which I’ll get to at the end.
World Without Cows (2026) US Theatrical Release Tour Dates & Theater Guide
Where to Watch in Wisconsin
Wisconsin calls itself America’s Dairyland, and the state’s economy backs that up, so it makes sense that it gets the longest list of stops. Nine cities are on the schedule, spread from the Lake Michigan shoreline to the Madison area. Madison matters most for the film’s argument, since it’s the capital and home to a major agricultural research university, and I’d expect the post-screening conversation there to get sharp. Oshkosh and Appleton should draw a more mixed crowd of farm families, students and small-town business owners, while the Milwaukee-area stops (Menomonee Falls, New Berlin, Oak Creek and Delafield) cover the suburbs on every side of the city.
| City | Area it serves |
|---|---|
| Green Bay | Northeastern Wisconsin |
| Appleton | Fox Cities region |
| Oshkosh | Winnebago County |
| Sheboygan | Lake Michigan coast |
| Madison | State capital, research and policy crowd |
| Delafield | Waukesha County and suburbs |
| Menomonee Falls | North of Milwaukee |
| New Berlin | Southeastern Wisconsin |
| Oak Creek | South of Milwaukee |
Where to Watch in Nebraska
Nebraska gets two stops, Lincoln and Omaha, and that’s a thinner schedule than Wisconsin’s for a state where cattle outnumber people. Lincoln is the state capital and home to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, so expect a room of students, ag scientists, legislators and activists, which is about as close to a neutral venue as this debate gets. Omaha is the bigger city and carries real history as a meatpacking and rail hub. Screening this film there, in a town built on moving beef to market, is a neat piece of staging, whether or not the distributors planned it that way.
What the Film Argues
The documentary runs 84 minutes and was funded by Alltech, a multinational animal health and nutrition company led by Dr. Mark Lyons. The spark was a 2019 ad from a plant-based drink brand that went hard at dairy’s environmental record. Alltech says it gave the journalists editorial freedom instead of commissioning a marketing piece, but a livestock-industry company paying for a film about whether the world needs livestock deserves a skeptical eye. Go in knowing that, and judge the film on how it handles its evidence.
The crew conducted more than 200 interviews, in person and online, with ranchers, atmospheric scientists, university researchers, plant-based advocates and strict vegans. The footage moves from the Midwest to cattle markets in India, herding communities in Kenya and big ranches in Brazil. That range is the film’s strongest card, because it keeps the argument from being just an American one. The main threads are these:
- Methane science: The film leans on research from the University of California and Oxford to separate biogenic methane from cattle from carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and it pushes back on the idea that removing cows would quickly fix warming.
- Cellulose upcycling: Ruminants can turn plant material people can’t eat, like prairie grass and almond hulls, into protein.
- Soil and grasslands: Groups like Soil4Climate appear to make the case that well-managed grazing stores carbon and slows desertification.
- Nutrition and livelihoods: In places without affordable alternatives, losing dairy and beef would mean malnutrition and stunting, and more than a billion people worldwide depend on livestock for their income.
The methane and grazing claims are where scientists tend to disagree most, so those are the parts I’d watch most closely. A film like this can sound airtight when the interviewees all nod along. If you come from the environmental side, go anyway and push back during the Q&A, because that’s what the format is for.
Getting Tickets
Whether you farm for a living, work in climate policy, or just got tired of reading shouted headlines about cows, a night in a theater with a few hundred people who feel strongly about this will tell you more than another comment thread. For exact showtimes at the Wisconsin and Nebraska venues, plus advance tickets and the trailer, check worldwithoutcows.com before October 14. And book early, because small-town screenings of a film this topical have a way of filling up.
