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America's Heartland is made possible by...
Farm Credit - Financing agriculture and rural America since 1916.
Farm Credit is cooperatively owned by America's farmers and ranchers.
Learn more at farmcredit.com
CropLife America - Representing the companies whose
modern farming innovations help America's farmers provide
nutritious food for communities around the globe.
Hi I'm Rob Stewart.
If you like a glass of wine with your meals or, maybe,
like to grab a beer at the end of the day,
then stick around -- because we're raising a glass
to an important segment of American agriculture.
We'll take you to California where winemakers are taking
a different approach in reaching new customers.
You'll see how crop technology is helping one
winemaker to "sweeten" your tasting experience.
Sharon Vaknin has some ideas that make it easy for you
to serve up a very popular dish.
And we'll take you to the Pacific Northwest where
turning out distinctive beers is a multi-family effort.
It's all coming up on America's Heartland.
Bottoms up. Cheers, cheers.
♪You can see it in the eyes Of every woman and man♪
♪In America's Heartland living close to the land♪
♪There's a love for the country And a pride in the brand♪
♪In America's Heartland♪
♪Living close Close to the land♪
♪♪
In recent years, Americans have become a lot more
selective about where their food comes from.
And we've become much more adventuresome
when it comes to trying new foods.
And that goes for beverages as well.
Just look at the explosion in micro-brews
when it comes to beer.
Barley... hops... wheat... and rice.
Heartland grains that go into brewing
big name and boutique beers.
And while beer was once just "beer" today we have everything
from low cal and low carb to imports and flavored malts.
And while everyone knows about wine from California,
more and more states are seeing winemakers using
local grapes to produce award winning wines.
Figures show that Americans will consume,
on average, about 12 bottles a year.
And what are we drinking?
Chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot grigio
and white zinfandel are high on the wine popularity list.
And just as we've seen new innovations that have
dramatically increased crop yields for farmers growing
things like corn, cotton, wheat and soybeans,
crop research is also impacting those producers who grow grapes
and it's being done in a new way that is closer to nature.
Ridge Vineyards has been producing award winning
wines for more than a half century.
Their historic vineyard spreads across these colorful hills in
the Santa Cruz Mountains in Cupertino California.
Though we have mostly Cabernet Sauvignon,
we have a little bit of Cabernet Franc,
a lot of Merlot and Petite Verdot.
Those four grapes all have the potential of going into
our top wine called Monte Bello and a small block of
really old Zinfandel that is pre-prohibition.
The wines... and historic vines here...
benefit not just from decades old growth.
They also benefit from something called bio crop protection...
new ways to manage crop cycles using more
natural methods and fewer chemicals.
On this hot summer day, the grape vines are being
sprayed to prevent mildew growth and the potential for rotting.
It's high science horticulture, developed here.
This is the Bayer Crop Science Research
and Development Laboratory where a team of scientists
and horticulturists is developing new scientific
approaches for farmers to use on crops around the globe.
We have... a basic discovery, we're looking for new
microorganisms to use in crop protection.
So we have microbiology, we have chemistry,
we have entomology, nematology.
As we're developing the process we have to continue
to test that against the target diseases
to make sure that the activity is continuing.
We also need to support manufacturing,
make sure that each batch of product
meets specifications for the disease control.
But scientific crop protection, and research,
begins with recreated "mini farm fields" in these greenhouses.
Conditions here simulate what crops, and farmers,
face in the real world of production.
It's research that takes time.
When one of our scientists goes wow, you know,
he's working on a bench and he discovers a new product
to control fungus, say on apples.
From the day that he says wow, on his bench,
it can be up to ten to fifteen years
before we can get that to a grower for actual use.
We do a great number of field trials,
scientific work to go to the regulatory authorities.
In the U.S., it's the Environmental Protection Agency,
the EPA.
The crop work here will focus on a number of concerns:
things like seed development, crop protection and pest control
In addition to the focus on science....
One of the methodologies that we use looks at the job of growing
a crop and we break that down into job steps.
And what that allows you to do is to understand the
efficiencies needed and to anticipate the technology
that it's gonna need to make a grower more efficient
at growing that crop.
Those methodologies include research to discover and enhance
the naturally occurring defense systems that some plants have.
Finding those plant "biological" protections can impact
even reduce, the need for chemical pesticides.
It starts from focusing on the crop that the farmer is
growing and figuring out what the best technology is to
produce the highest yielding and the best quality crop.
So our field biologists can take all of these different tools
and create this unique program for the benefit of our farmers.
Scientists say that all of this research is critical to
providing food to a growing world population...
You hear a lot of time, you know, seven billion,
going to nine billion by 2050,
and so those people are gonna want a higher protein diet,
much like we enjoy here in the U.S.
And so to feed those people is gonna take a lot of
technology, and we're excited about it.
And as for the work being done in the lab...
or on the plants at the Ridge Vineyards...
it's the potential for new approaches
to agriculture that make the difference.
I love to see something that I've scaled up,
or worked on in the lab in small scale,
to see it in the big production tanks, to see,
you know, tanker trucks of the product in pallets,
going out, being distributed all over the world.
To me that's really exciting.
♪♪
Want a little wine trivia?
It takes about 800 individual grapes
to create just one bottle of wine.
Wine is produced in every state in the U.S.
even Hawaii which turns out fruit flavored wines...
some of them made from pineapple.
No matter where you live, in the U.S. or overseas, it is a good
bet that you enjoy wines from California.
That's because California produces
more than 80% of the wine in America.
But even with the lion's share of the country's sales,
some Golden State vintners are looking to
target new markets for selling their products.
Consider the diversity of the winemaking industry:
French, Italian, Chilean and Australian vintners.
On the American vineyard scene,
This is about three years old.
Winemaker Mac McDonald will tell you that
African American vintners are not as well known.
I travel around the country. I've been to a lot of places, do
a lot of wine dinners, do a lot of "you know" charity events.
And as I do these charity events it all of a sudden it dawned on
me that there was no African Americans in my audience.
That I personally made.
Theodora Lee owns Theopolis Vineyards in Cloverdale,
California where she grows petite syrah grapes.
So, I want you to try it.
I would love to try it.
Because it is absolutely a kick.
Raised in rural Texas, she wasn't exposed to many
wine drinkers 'til she joined a law firm that
employed several vineyard owners.
It smells amazing!
Today as an African American woman successfully
conducting a wine business -Theo says her heritage
presents a whole new point of view to the wine trade.
African Americans - they could get as much pleasure
if they knew about the quality of wine and that's
what we're about-educating and making it available to the
public at large, but the African American community specifically.
And so as we were going through this thing.
Both Mac and Theo belong to
the Association of African American Vintners.
It was founded around members who could come together;
create an opportunity for us to talk,
share resources and we wanted to also provide an
opportunity to educate the public.
Primarily African Americans, but not only
African Americans, about wine, the wine industry
and what the wine industry can do.
Mac's interest began as a 12 year old boy
on his family's Texas farm.
My father was a moonshine maker by the name of Sue,
long before Johnny Cash had a song about a man named Sue.
And there used to be a bunch of attorneys and doctors and
guys that came out of Houston and Dallas and Ft. Worth,
Texas that'd go hunting with my grandfather cause he had all
the various types of dogs and they would drink my father's
moonshine and one of those guys used to drink burgundy.
You know if you look at these grapes here,
next year we will have a lot.
Sampling that burgundy began a lifelong interest in wine.
Today, Mac and his wife, Lil,
have realized their dream of owning their own winery;
a venture into viticulture that puts Mac into
a very small segment of the industry.
African Americans own fewer than 5% of all
of the wineries in the United States-
a statistic the association wants to change.
The fact that we're successful,
the fact that we are out here,
the fact that people know we're out here;
that will increase opportunities and desires of
other people to try it, to get in the business and see
if they can do something with it.
One of the goals of the association is to direct
more African American students into careers in viticulture.
Mac says the organization offers scholarships and internships as
a viable way of changing the face of the industry.
The idea is not to have it a black thing but it's the
idea is to get more African Americans to drink wine.
When you bring diversity to the table,
what you do is get a different perspective;
you get a different approach than what
your traditional general population may do.
I like spicy... I'm a big fan of the spicy.
Recent studies show that spending by diverse groups
can have a significant impact on consumer segments of the economy
The association thinks that wine education,
targeted marketing and increased awareness can send
more of those dollars to wine sales.
We're out here, we're making quality product.
We don't make African American wine,
we don't make black wine, we make quality product.
The association is not just around African Americans.
The majority wine industry;
they love the fact that we're out here. Why?
Because it brings wine consumers to them that they
otherwise would not have gotten.
And just as that taste of burgundy began the path for
Mac McDonald, his goal is to lay the groundwork
for the next aspiring winemaker of color.
As for the future I just hope that I can hang on long
enough to see some African American,
male or female tap me on the shoulder and say
"old man I can make better wine than you can."
Californian's like their wine!
And not only does the Golden State produce more than
80% of the wine made in America.
Californians drink a lot of it as well-- enjoying,
on average, one of every five bottles consumed in the U.S.
There is no doubt that wine's popularity
is on the rise across the U.S.
You'll find it in more and more grocery stores with a
growing number of varieties available.
But for that new wine drinker it can be a little overwhelming.
So here's some help whether you need to pick out
a red or a white.
♪♪
Let's start with the names.
And boy there are a lot of them!
Some varieties are named based on the area
where the grapes are grown.
They can also be named after the type of grape.
Like Merlot or Pinot Noir.
From fruity to dry, you've got lots of choices
when it comes to taste.
You've probably heard white wine with fish and reds with meat.
But that basic guideline is not always correct.
A better way to think of it is which wine will complement and
not overwhelm the flavors of the food that you are eating.
A lighter wine goes well with lighter fare.
Heavier foods pair nicely with heavier red wines.
The good news: new wineries are popping up all over the
country with all kinds of new flavors and varieties.
And local winery owners are more than happy
to field your wine-related questions.
Especially if you buy a bottle or two of their wine!
Cheers!
The bottom line on wine: If you find a variety and brand
that you enjoy, well you don't have to spend a lot of
time worrying about its bouquet or notes of citrus.
Hey... you like it so who cares!
But you've become a wine-drinker now and that means you need to
experiment a little bit with lots of varieties of wine
because you never know which one your palate might prefer!
♪♪
Lots of us enjoy a glass of wine when we dine with
friends or enjoy a night out at our favorite restaurant.
And we've long paired certain wines with meat or fish.
A glass of wine can enhance a meal.
And if you're looking for something special to serve with
your favorite beverage, well our Sharon Vaknin is in the
kitchen with a main dish recipe that just might fit the bill.
♪♪
Today's it's all about chicken.
We're making an old dish new again
with two fresh takes on the ingredient.
First, it's butterflied chicken with a sun-dried tomato salsa.
Then its honey-roasted peanut crusted chicken with
a coconut soy dipping sauce.
First, let's get started on that roasted chicken.
Instead of leaving the chicken whole when we roast it,
we're going to butterfly it.
To butterfly it, we're going to take out the backbone and to
do that, the easiest way is to use a pair of kitchen scissors.
And go right in and cut along the backbone
right through the ribs.
And the backbone is out.
♪♪
I want to season the inside.
Now I've already poured out my spices so that I don't
have to worry about contamination.
Salt always.
Put a nice helping of salt in there.
Pepper.
And I like to throw in a little bit of fresh minced garlic.
You will not believe how juicy this chicken is going to be.
The inside is seasoned so let's get it onto our baking sheet.
Flip it right on top of these onions that I've already sliced.
And now, it's time to season the outside.
Salt.
Ground black pepper and then I love to add a little bit of
sweet paprika just for color and that light, delicate flavor.
And before this goes in the oven,
I'll drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil to help
crisp up the skin but really, you don't want to use a lot.
The skin has enough fat content to crisp on its own.
I just need to go wash my hands and this will go in
the oven at 450 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes.
With the chicken roasting, let's work on that
sun-dried tomato salsa.
All we need are a few vine tomatoes
and we'll give them a good dice.
Diced tomatoes go in the bowl.
Then we'll add our minced garlic,
sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chili flakes,
fresh ground black pepper, salt, and basil.
For the basil, I'll just roll them up and run my
knife right through those leaves.
Give this a stir and our sun-dried tomato salsa is done.
Our chicken's roasting and our salsa's ready, and now it's time
to work on our honey roasted peanut crusted chicken thighs.
This recipe is really simple and it's a lot like making a
regular breaded and fried chicken but this time we're
adding honey roasted peanuts that goes in a Ziploc
and we'll add Panko bread crumbs into the mix.
Make sure all the air is out.
And I'll use a rolling pin to crush up those peanuts
and makes sure they stick to the chicken.
Now we'll grab our tray.
Pour that in there.
Smells so good.
Now we need our liquid so I've got one egg and,
instead of milk, we're using coconut milk.
It's a lot creamier and it'll add that nice hint of flavor.
We'll also add a little bit of fresh black pepper.
Now we can bread our chicken thighs.
Just dip it in our coconut and egg right in there.
Pat it down to make sure it has a nice coating.
We'll just repeat the same process for all of the cuts.
Our chicken thighs are all crusted
and they're ready to be fried.
I have some oil heated up in this cast iron pan;
great for frying.
We don't want to crowd the pan too much,
we want to give them enough room to breathe and
we don't want to cool down the oil too much.
While that fries, let's work on our coconut soy dipping sauce.
It's very simple.
We just need a few ingredients starting with
soy sauce that goes right into a pan.
Then we'll add our coconut milk, a little bit of
chili garlic paste, and finally, honey for sweetness.
Now we'll bring this mixture to a boil and
we'll let it reduce for about twenty minutes
or until it's about half in size.
You know the thighs are ready when both sides are a nice
golden brown but don't be afraid to take it off the heat
and cut into it with a knife to make sure that meat is white.
That looks pretty good.
Our last chicken thigh is done and by now,
our butterfly chicken should be ready and both of these
dishes are ready to be served.
With our butterfly chicken every inch of that skin is crispy.
Then we have our honey roasted,
peanut crusted chicken with a coconut soy dipping sauce.
It's sweet, it's salty, and it looks beautiful.
With these two fresh takes on the ingredient,
you get big, bold flavors in every bite.
I'd call this a winner, winner chicken dinner!
♪♪
While we talk beverages made from heartland crops,
we can't overlook beers and ales.
Specialty beers have given rise to a large number of
small breweries all across this country.
Different ingredients and regional tastes impact
the kinds of beers being made.
And that's certainly true for one small brewery in
Oregon where our Jason Shoultz found that
beer making is a multi-family endeavor.
Things are heating up in Silverton, Oregon.
So we got four 45- 48 gallons in here we're going to boil off.
Phill Knoll's small batch of Maggie's Marzen
wouldn't taste good in a mug right now.
It's going to take some time and there's
a key ingredient yet to be added.
Hops!
Hops are vital to any beer. And Phil would know.
His day job is actually teaching high school chemistry.
But here, he's the head brewer at Seven Brides Brewery
What do good hops do for the beer though?
What is, how does it impact the taste of the beer?
Ok the taste of the beer, the hops supply the bitterness.
Seven Brides Brewery was founded a few years back
after five guys spent their Saturday's brewing various
beer batches in their garages.
We were brewing five gallons at a time, then it went to ten.
Then it went to thirty and forty and it's like,
ok guys, if we're gonna do this let's do it right.
And before long they were doing just that.
Now five friends who come from different backgrounds:
marketing... to engineering... to chemistry
are running their own beer biz.
And so far so good.
They will sell upwards of six thousand barrels of beer
around the region this year.
Our business model is not to grow the business to get it
as big as we can and then sell it for profit.
Our goal is to build a company that we can hand
down to our daughters and have them step in and run it.
More on just how important those daughters are in a moment.
But to find another key ingredient
to the Seven Brides success...
Here we come.
You'll have to visit nearby hops farmer John Annen.
And hear the story about the refrigerator the guys
were trying to sell online on Craigslist.
So I put an ad. on Craigslist and, lo and behold,
Johnny called, looking for a refrigerator and we had one and
it was too big and, you know, one thing led to another.
He came up, we were chatting and realized
that he was a hop farmer.
And he says, "What are you going to do with the refrigerator?"
I said, "Well, we need it for hop samples for our brewery-
for the little brewery guys."
Brewers... meet long time hop grower
in an amazing moment of serendipity.
I grew up here.
Johnny grew up here.
We're five miles apart and never met before.
Never met.
Never had any idea.
Turns out most hops growers here sell to large brewers.
But John Annen was more interested in
direct sales to guys like Jeff.
It's really fun workin' with these guys.
They're real honest, hardworking, good people.
And how about from a grower's perspective?
I mean, you know, hops is in your blood.
Hop growing is in your blood, right?
Yeah. I was born into it, yeah.
I don't know anything else so...
And so to see that satisfaction on their faces
must be pretty rewarding for you.
Oh, man, it's- it's like the best thing in the world.
Back at Seven Brides, it's time for those all-important
hops to be added to the brew!
Dump those in!
Alright. Sprinkle them in.
And these are from John Annen's place just down the road, right?
John Annen's place just down the road.
Oooh, smells good.
And out front in the tap room restaurant
they're serving up their brews and grub.
At one of the tables, the brewer's namesake-
the seven brides.
...well, someday anyway.
Back when the guys were thinking about starting this
business they had seven little girls...
daughters and nieces who might, someday, need expensive weddings
So...
That got brought up one afternoon and it's like well,
if we're gonna do this we might as well earmark
some funds for it and so that's kind of become one of
our taglines is you know we've got seven daughters
and seven weddings to pay for.
It's not every little girl who gets
a micro beer named after her!
And not every group of buddies who get to turn a
hobby into a successful business!
You know, we get to tell people we make beer for a living!
Cheer! Cheers, cheers.
We know that we pass along a lot of information to you
in every program and in case you missed something
or you just want to check out videos
from this or other shows, we make it easy.
Just log on to our website at AmericasHeartland.org
And you'll find us, as well, on some of
your favorite social media sites.
Thanks for being with us.
We'll see you next time on America's Heartland.
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♪♪
♪You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man♪
♪In America's Heartland living close to the land♪
♪There's a love for the country And a pride in the brand♪
♪In America's Heartland♪
♪Living close Close to the land♪
♪♪
America's Heartland is made possible by...
Farm Credit - Financing agriculture and rural America since 1916.
Farm Credit is cooperatively owned by America's farmers and ranchers.
Learn more at farmcredit.com
CropLife America - Representing the companies whose
modern farming innovations help America's farmers provide
nutritious food for communities around the globe.