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Farm Credit - Financing agriculture and rural America since 1916.
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CropLife America - Representing the companies whose
modern farming innovations help America's farmers provide
nutritious food for communities around the globe.
>>Hi I'm Jason Shoultz.
At no other time in history have you had such a myriad
of choices when it comes to the food you eat.
Just ahead, we'll clue you in on some growing food
trends affecting you and your family.
Organic foods are on the shopping list
for many consumers.
You'll meet some California farmers staking their future on
organic farming and "community supported agriculture".
Ever wonder about those "gluten free"
labels you see on products?
We'll answer some questions about gluten in your diet
and take you to Nebraska where one farmer is cashing
in on gluten free flour.
Then, one Virginia school system takes an active
approach to helping students eat healthier...
while benefitting local farmers.
Let's find out about the food on your table...
just ahead on America's Heartland.
You havin' a good mornin'?
Yeah.
Yeah?
♪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♪
♪♪
We're going to spend a little time at a one of a kind
dinner on a farm right here in Northern California.
I'll tell you all about that in just a moment.
You know, we've all known for a long time that eating the right
foods can help to improve your health.
And there's a good deal of concern about childhood obesity.
But it's not always easy to make a direct connection to
a specific diet or food group as being better for you.
Organic? Gluten Free?
Many people, however, are making food decisions
they consider to be beneficial.
And some of those decisions start right on the farm.
Diners have shown up by the dozens for
a unique event called "Outstanding in the Field"
Calling itself "a restaurant without walls",
the event sets up tables in farm fields and barns-
serving up gourmet meals with local ingredients
prepared by celebrated regional chefs.
The aim is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of
their food by honoring local farmers and food artisans.
>>You know, agriculture has the word culture in it and, uh
that's something... culture's powerful and if people can
access that and understand it and meet the people who
are doing that work, it's substantial,
it's inspiring and it tastes good.
So, it's good... You can't beat that.
>>To get out and actually cook outside and meet people and
talk and just be out.
You know we're surrounded by fig orchards and stone fruit.
The squash we're using today was ground here
and it's cool, like, where did you get that?
Over there.
You know, isn't that fun?
And you know it's really cool to do that.
The meat provider, his ranch is going to be here,
my fish provider, the ranch is going to be here today.
You know there's a big connection.
I can point to everybody that provided the food today and that's fun.
>>From May through November, "Outstanding in the Field"
will host more than 80 such dinners
in the U.S. and overseas.
After a tour of the host farm, diners, culinary artisans,
farmers and growers sit down to dinner...
sharing the bounty on the long table.
The dinner, tonight, is being hosted here at the
Capay Organic farm in northern California.
Organic farming has seen a double digit growth in the
past ten years and the number of organic farming operations in
the U.S. has more than doubled since the early 1990's.
For the farmers here, the mission is not only growing
organic produce... it's getting those crops to consumers.
♪♪
It's a celebration of the tomato.
Here at Capay Organic Farm in Northern California.
Complete with tomato tasting!
>>I didn't realize there were going to be this many varieties.
I was blown away.
Some were just incredibly sweet.
Some were tart or acidic.
Just full of flavor.
>>There's just a lot of nuances in the flavors.
I've never noticed that before.
And it's a really great experience
to be able to do that.
Spend the day out here and get to taste the complexities.
>>The farm's tomato festival is
an annual event at the Capay Farm.
It draws more than a thousand folks who show up
for tomatoes, tasting and tunes.
♪♪
The Capay farm folks have good reason to celebrate
their bright red tomatoes.
Like the vines they grow on, the tomatoes are deeply
intertwined with this farm family's success.
How long will these produce fruit?
>>So the harvest window is like eight weeks.
So it'll be kind of- the first week is not very much
and then it slowly ramps up.
>>Thaddeus Barsotti is the chief farmer here.
His parents Kathleen Barsotti and Martin Barnes
started this farm in 1976.
They created a Community Supported Agriculture program
in 1992 to sell produce.
When the couple divorced Kathy took ownership.
>>The rumor is that my dad saw some thrown away heirloom
tomatoes in the dumpster of a food service provider.
And he said, wow, those are cool looking tomatoes.
Grabbed them and saved some seeds
and we planted a few rows of them..
We grew ten acres in '99 and my mom said,
"You know, Thad, I think I can sell twenty acres of these
tomatoes but I just don't have the energy to do them,
to plant them and harvest them and take care of them all."
I was in college and I said,
"you know mom, plant the twenty acres,
I'll come back and help you that summer."
That was actually the summer my mom passed away,
she was sick, she had breast cancer so I took the farm
over that summer with the twenty acres of tomatoes and
we've been growing the program ever since.
And so now we manage
just over a hundred acres of heirloom tomatoes.
>>Every week she would do a recipe and news about the farm.
And in 2000 she kind of introduced Noah,
Thaddeus and I, you know, we still have that final farm
news she wrote, um, introducing us and saying,
"Hey your quality of the produce delivered
right to your homes is going to stay the same
and they're going to continue it on."
And I think that's been an important
part too is that she past away,
the four of us really bonded together and said hey,
we're going to take this to the next level.
>>We were definitely left for the choice of
"Do we want to keep the business going or not?"
And we unanimously decided no, we're going to keep this going.
>>Since taking over, Thaddeus, Noah and Freeman have taken
the farm to a size that they admit
their mother could not have imagined.
Besides selling produce wholesale and to
restaurants, today they operate the largest
Community Supported Agriculture program, or CSA, in the country.
Customers pay for deliveries of fresh produce
directly to their home.
They deliver in Northern and Southern California.
>>We're delivering throughout
California's most populated areas.
And I think the key is to really support local
and support organic.
It's going to be seasonal
and it's going to be as local as possible.
>>The family works with other organic farmers across the state
to make sure the CSA produce deliveries have various options.
The brothers admit that becoming the largest CSA in
the country with 500 employees and farm properties
across the state was not their parent's original plan.
>>I really kind of wonder what she'd think.
You know, she had some amazing ideas that we're still doing
the same business model that she developed in 1992.
Um... we're growing the same crops
with the same home delivery concept.
We're just... took her basic concept and just expanded
the distribution and the size.
And so, really I think that if she looked at us today
she would see her fingerprints everywhere.
>>They believe that working despite their size,
working together as a family and with other farms ensures
they are sticking to their parent's original mission.
The family holds on to the belief that directly connecting
with customers is key to their family's farming future.
>>So our children, are growing up on the farm we're
wondering how they're going to fit in. The reality is
is that we've taken a great thing our parents started and
we're delivering it to more people
The real challenge is when our kids get it, you know,
what are they going to do with it?
So we're thinking a lot about that and watching the
kids and realizing that you know,
they need to have good work ethic and understand how it
works so when they get it, it's going to stick around
for them to give to their kids.
♪♪
>>While California leads the nation in the number of
organic farms in the U.S., several other states have
ramped up organic production as well.
They include Wisconsin, Washington State, New York,
Maine, Minnesota, and Iowa.
♪♪
>>The demand for locally grown foods has sparked
a dramatic growth in farmers markets.
There were some 1,700 across the country in the early 1990's.
By 2013 that number had grown to more than 8 thousand.
Food trends are ever changing.
You'll see many more organic products today and that's
also true for products labeled "gluten free."
We'll run down some details on gluten, but first
Sarah Gardner takes us to Nebraska where gluten-free flour
is the cash crop for one farm family.
♪♪
>>Getting a crop to market involves harvest time in the
field for most farmers.
That's true for Gerald Simonsen and his son, Brian,
but for this crop there's another step in the process.
>>Well how many different states do we have going out today?
>>We've got South Carolina, Wyoming,
eight to Montana, California.
>>This year we're on track to ship about 95 thousand bushels.
>>These 25 pound buckets contain food grade sorghum flour,
a wheat flour substitute.
Sorghum flour is used to make breads,
cakes and baked goods for those with Celiac Disease.
The disease affects people whose digestive systems
have difficulty handling the protein glutens
found in wheat, barley and rye.
>>This is what the flour looks like.
It's a little.. got a little more of a yellow tint
than say white wheat flour.
But as far as texture and consistency,
it's very close to white wheat flour.
A lot of people... everyone knows whole wheat flour is
healthier for you, better for you, than white wheat.
But most people prefer white wheat and our customers
are looking for, they miss white wheat flour.
They want something as close to that as they can possibly get.
>>Neither Gerald nor his wife Julie suffer from Celiac disease
but a growing demand for the flour alternative has provided
them with an opportunity to expand their sorghum operation.
It has also generated positive feedback from their
customers across the country.
>>Every once in a while we'll get a letter that will say
"I made pancakes for my husband and he hasn't had pancakes
for seven years and he was thrilled."
Or somebody who made a birthday caked for their
daughter who was diagnosed or people will tell us...
sometimes you get on phone calls,
it's hard to get off them because people will tell you
they're newly diagnosed.
>>Well roughtly sixty percent of our customer base is people who
have Celiac Sprue or another wheat intolerance.
Well this looks like it's coming up pretty good.
There's a few blank spots.
But, for the most part, it's in good shape.
>>Gerald and Brian are inspecting the fields on the
3,500 acres Gerald shares with his brother.
To conserve water and reduce erosion,
they use the no-till method of planting where old
sorghum stocks are allowed to become compost for new crops,
in this case soybeans.
>>This residue, compost or whatever you want to call it,
it's great for growing crops.
And your microbial activity, the insects and all the
natural things occur when you don't till the land.
>>Their recently planted sorghum crop has just broken through.
At maturity the stalks will stand as tall as corn,
and their tops will bristle with hundreds of seeds.
>>It has a bushy head and the seed is all completely exposed.
There's no sheath on it or husk like what you would
have with wheat or barley.
>>Seeds from the stalks are what Gerald grinds into flour.
Frist using a stone mill and then a sifter, separating
the flour from the abrasive particles known as grits.
But, nothing is wasted.
The grits are used as a high protein livestock feed.
Gerald is a fourth generation Nebraska farmer
continuing a heritage his great grandfather started
when he planted milo, an older name for sorghum.
>>My granddad was one of the first people to start
growing milo around here back about 1929.
And we've been growing it ever since.
>>Whether the Simonsen children continue
the farming legacy is still uncertain.
It's a question asked in many households across the heartland.
For Brian, there's no definite answer yet.
>>Well, there's a lot of other things that I'd like to do,
but being out here it's kind of hard to say no.
>>Ya know, there's people who say the last thing they'd do
is encourage their son to stay on the farm.
And other people who want nothing more.
And I think that choice has got to be with Brian.
>>Grown on millions of acres from Texas and Oklahoma
through the Dakotas, sorghum's need for less water than some
other crops makes it a popular choice for many farmers.
Livestock feed and ethanol production provide possible
markets, but the Simonsens say the plant...
as a food source... is important for the nation.
>>Oh, I see big increases for
the food sorghum industry in general.
Ya know, we're not getting rich,
but the business is growing and it's hold its own.
♪♪
>>Sorghum comes originally from Africa and...
in many regions.... was grown... primarily...
as a source of syrup for sugar.
But production really flourished when it was discovered that
sorghum could grow in arid regions
and be used as animal feed.
>>You'll see the "gluten free" label on everything from
meats to beverages these days, so let's give you a bit
more information on gluten and how it may impact you.
♪♪
Hi, my name is Rose Mendonca
and I have a question about agriculture.
I see "Gluten Free" on lots of food products at the
supermarket these days.
I'm not quite sure what "gluten" is... where it comes
from or just what kind of role it plays in the food I eat.
>>Understanding gluten and discovering whether some
foods have gluten requires a little homework...
so let's give you the basics.
Now there's nothing wrong with gluten by itself.
It's simply a natural protein composite that
you'll find in foods processed from wheat or
other grains like barley or rye.
Gluten helps to make your favorite bread chewy by
giving texture and elasticity to the dough.
You'll find gluten in breakfast cereals and baked goods.
But gluten is also widely used as a thickener in foods,
a flavor enhancer, even a protein supplement -
which means you'll find gluten in everything from
soups and gravies, to salad dressings,
dairy products... even liquors.
So...why are you seeing "Gluten Free" on product labels?
It has to do with lots more consumer information coming
your way these days from farmers and food processors.
And it ties to the effect that gluten can have on some folks.
A small segment of the population...
estimated at one half to one percent...
suffers from something called celiac disease.
Gluten can trigger things like stomach disorders,
joint pain or headaches.
And some other people may have gluten "intolerance"
not associated with the disease.
So, what about food choices without gluten?
That includes foods made from corn, rice, soy,
buckwheat or sorghum and sorghum flour.
But remember that even some beverages can contain gluten.
So be aware of that when you raise your glass.
♪♪
>>Well my name is Kent Bradford
and my work is involved in seed biology,
seed production and related to improving crop varieties
for production in agriculture.
It is true that seeds are little miracles,
that's certainly true.
This is a wild tomato species...
In a very real sense seeds are critical to our future.
...not all of our agriculture but a very large fraction of our
agriculture depends upon being able to reproduce seeds annually
Wow, this is nice...
The seeds that are used by farmers to grow crop have to
be produced every year or at most every other year to
provide good quality seed ...and efficient agriculture
requires uniform crops that germinate quickly and
establish quickly and grow rapidly.
We need to be improving crops because
the environment, the tests, the markets
and so on are changing all the time.
For example, the size of watermelons has shrunk
recently from large watermelons that used to be
the case to the small personal watermelons.
And that's all done by developing new varieties
that appeal to consumers.
We have so many new tools that
we didn't have in previous years.
In the last 20 years certainly our ability to understand the
basis of traits that we want have improved enormously.
Its as if it's a GPS for breeders.
I think if someone is looking for a career in plant science,
this area of plant breeding and seeds is a great place to be.
Its really the intersection between the technology
and the practical aspect.
They way to think about seeds in agriculture these days,
in a sense, they're the microchip.
They're the heart.
You plant a seed and that carries all of the traits,
all the efforts that the breeders have put together.
...and the more that we can do that,
the less we have to add later.
The less fertilizer we have to add later,
the less pesticide we have to use to control diseases.
The ability to now feed 6 1/2 billion people is
largely due to plant breeding.
Clearly as we go towards 9 billion people
in the next 30 years,
we're going to need to double food production again
and we simply cant do that without improved varieties.
♪♪
>>You know, we mentioned childhood obesity
at the start of the show...
Many communities have kicked off programs
that aim to help youngsters eat healthier.
That includes better information about food
choices and menu changes for things like school lunches.
Let's take you to Virginia where one school district
has combined that effort with a program to benefit local farmers
♪♪
The kitchen is bustling this early morning at Smithland
Elementary School in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
And while the lunch ladies chop, mix and bake.
A visitor shows up at the kitchen.
>>You havin' a good mornin'?
>>Local farmer Marlon Showalter drops by the
kitchen with bins of bib lettuce ready for chopping.
Showalter sells about 300 cases of hydroponic
greenhouse-grown lettuce to area schools each week.
The stuff that you just brought in today, when was that picked?
>>Well actually this was harvested this morning.
>>Really?
>>Uh, yeah it was.
>>The lettuce gets turned into salad
and is among the locally grown lunch choices
that the staff and students here are proud of.
>>We've always had the goal to make our meals healthier so
for the past several years we've done a lot of things
like increasing fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains,
lowering fat, eliminating fried foods, things like that.
So the next logical step for us was to think about trying to
get an even fresher product to students when we can.
>>The schools effort is part of a statewide initiative in
Virginia to help schools buy
more lunch ingredients regionally.
These are Virginia apples here?
>>They are yes, and Virginia apples are available to
Virginia schools through most of the school year.
They hold very well in cold storage, so...
>>Is this Marlon's lettuce right here?
>>That is some of Marlon's and some from another farmer who
grows Romaine lettuce so we've got a mix there of
Bibb and Romaine, both grown locally,
and they are grown in greenhouses.
>>This reminds me of the lunch time line they served up
everything in a little ice-cream scooper,
a lunch lady's favorite thing.
It is portion-control and this is a
good thing especially in our country where we eat too much.
So I know.
We sort of have that bad connotation of the-
Lunch lady with the-
>>That is not that.
No, this gives us the correct portion for students.
These are homemade yeast rolls
and we're using a blend of 50-50.
It's 50-50 blend of whole wheat flour which is milled.
It's a local wheat milled locally as well as a bread
flour that we get through a USDA commodities.
So the rolls are half local.
>>I see a lot of local products here today.
Now obviously that's not necessarily
the case all the time, right?
It can't be.
>>It can't be. That's right, that's right.
We are serving about 3,500 meals a day in our division.
So when we think about he volume of food that we use
it would be difficult to get all of it local and still be
able to give kids lunch.
>>The biggest challenge to any
locally grown effort is the weather.
Mid-Winter in Virginia means little growing outside.
The school district is hoping to purchase
10 percent of their lunch ingredients locally.
Right now it's about 5 percent.
But turning to non-weather dependent choices
is also an option.
Not too far away in the small town of
Charlottesville another food producer is a seeing
positive impact from school's efforts to buy locally.
The historic Wade's Mill uses stone grinders to produce flour.
The school purchases wheat for bread products from Wade's Mill.
>>It does benefit the bottom line and we're pleased to
see it because the schools are not only using local
produce but they're teaching the kids,
the children more about nutitional value of what
they're eating and where it comes from, who is producing it.
What it all means to the local economy.
>>Improving school lunches has gotten national attention as
childhood obesity continues to grow in the US.
>>What was the favorite thing on your tray?
The spaghetti? Good, okay.
>>Chris Shipman from Standard Produce in Charlottesville,
Virginia say incorporating regionally grown into
established distribution channels is possible.
>>So we have to supplement what we do have locally with
what we can pull out of the California area,
the Florida area and then as spring starts we start
moving up the east coast so the things that we are
buying are getting closer and closer to Virginia until
we move into around June 1st is when we'll really start
into a lot of Virginia product.
>>And back in the lunchroom, Andrea Early says
buying fresh produce is just one piece
of a larger puzzle to get kids to eat healthier.
>>Food manufacturers have really done a good job of
stepping up to the plate to reduce sodium, reduce fat,
make those foods still taste good and things that kids like,
but make them a little bit healthier version.
>>Thank you.
>>You're welcome. You have a great afternoon.
>>Another advantage to buying locally grown- the kids not only
get to eat the food, they get to meet the farmer who grows it!
>>Y'all have any questions?
>>Farmers in the classroom and their products in the cafeteria.
A good lesson for kids who may never plant seeds or till the
soil but will have a lifelong reliance on those who do.
We've talked a lot about food and food choices.
Just a reminder that we have lots of great recipes on our
website along with video from this and all of our shows.
Log on to AmericasHeartland.org
And of course, there's lots going on
in our social media arena.
You'll find us there as well.
We'll see you next time, right here on America's Heartland.
You can purchase a DVD or Blu Ray copy of this program.
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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.