"America's Heartland
is made possible by..."

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And it's member companies

and associations in the
crop protection industry

including:

The American Farm Bureau
Foundation for Agriculture.

More information at:
agfoundation.org.

Sacramento's proud to be
America's Farm to Fork capital

Visit:
FarmtoFork.com

Hi, I'm Kristen Simoes.

We've rounded up an unusual
story for you this time.

We'll take you to Montana
to meet a family that discovered

trout could be a valuable
addition to their cattle ranch.

I'm Rob Stewart.

This week we're talking a little
produce and veggies.

And the farm family
story in Arkansas

with some sweet roots
in the land.

I'm Jason Shoultz.

Coming up I'll take you to
the wide open spaces of

Wyoming to meet a family
working hard to preserve a

ranch that's been in their
family for generations.

Hi, I'm Sarah Gardner.

America's Atlantic coast
is well known

for its fisheries.

But getting the catch
to consumers

is sometimes difficult.

We'll take you to New
England where a community

effort is bringing in
a harvest of seafood.

It's all coming up on
America's Heartland.

♪ 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
li

ving close, ♪

♪close to the land ♪

We all try to use our resources
to the best advantage.

For a farmer, that might
mean planting multiple crops

on the same field
in a single year.

For one cattle ranch
here in Montana,

its meant reeling in a
whole new revenue stream.

♪

My backyard is a test for
patience and persistence.

And it's incredible.

♪

Jacquie Nelson's
"backyard" is a bit

different from the yard that
you and I might be used to!

It includes a spring creek
that's ideal for fly fishing.

But this backyard isn't just
a place for family members

to catch some trout and
enjoy their Montana scenery

(Cattle Sounds)

For Jacquie Nelson, her
husband Tucker

and his parents,
Roger and Mary,

it's also a working
cattle ranch

that's been in the
Nelson family

since the 1860's.

We run about
500 mother cows. 500 cows sounds

like quite a bit but nowadays
that's not that big

operation so you need
something on the side really

for the ups and downs
and the ag industry.

The Nelsons decided that
agri-tourism could help

address those "ups and
downs" of agriculture.

So opening up their creek,
they built a lodge and began

welcoming fly fishing
enthusiasts

from all around the globe.

I'm from Yarmouth,
Maine and uh,

I come out West about once
a year to just enjoy the

wonderful scenery and most
especially to see if

we can catch some fish
on some of the

gorgeous water
that's out here.

The reason people like these
creeks so much is kinda,

is the challenge
I would say.

The challenge and the
quality of fishing.

In addition to the naturally
occurring fish populations

in the ranch's waterways,
the Nelsons also have a

commercial fish operation-
raising trout and providing

fish to other
locations in the west.

Some of them go to a group
of guys that are

processing them going to
Yellowstone park

and restaurants locally.

And then we stock ponds
around Montana that are

licensed to Fish and Game
for just private ponds.

The Nelsons have also done
a good deal

of conservation work:
fencing off cattle

to protect water quality,
restoring creek beds

and stabilizing banks
to control erosion.

Add that to running a ranch
and everyone is busy.

It really is a
family business.

I mean it's, a lot of hard
work, a lot of time spent.

We have a lot of
different hats we wear.

Sure, when were you
thinking of coming?

My wife pretty much takes
care of the fishing lodge

and organizing all that and
the fishermen reservation

and my son and daughter in
law guide the fishermen.

I definitely have
a passion for it,

on my days off that's what
I do, I go fly fishing.

Um, the guiding was just a
way to get more immersed in it.

Also bring some more income
into the family business.

And while Jacquie has her
hands full with a new baby

Well I'm a
full-time Mom now.

She likes interacting with
the visitors and says that

fishing is something that
she and Tucker

have grown to enjoy together.

I normally tend to a lot of
the people in the fly shop

and I help them with
fly selection um,

any of their Spring Creek
essentials that they needed

the last second or
they ran out of.

Tucker taught me everything
I know about fly fishing.

He used to tie my knots for
me and put on my flies and

all that kind
of stuff and um,

I used to tell him that
I didn't know how and,

and just have him keep doing
it and finally

he realized that I, uh,
you know, I

did know how to tie
on a few knots

and there goes that privilege.

I think all the other guides
are jealous that I have a

wife that fly fishes
and guides.

Not only has the creek given
the Nelsons

an additional revenue stream,

it's also given them an
opportunity to

share their ranching
lifestyle with those who may

not know much
about agriculture.

Most times you go just to
fish but here you come and

you see a family, you see
a family doing farming.

And it's a wonderful
combination of agriculture

in a natural world.

After you're done working
cattle at the end of the day

you don't want to
see another cow,

but after you're done
guiding for a whole day you

do want to go
fish some more so.

The tranquility
of it I think.

I think that just being out
here and it doesn't matter

if I catch a fish or not.

And I think that's a lot to
do with everyone that fly

fishes is just being
out in the beauty.

It's a beautiful
spot to live.

You just feel good about it.

And you feel like you're
contributing something to

the better and it
just feels good.

The history of fishing
goes way back in time.

Prehistoric man used
spears and bone hooks.

Ancient Egyptians developed
fishing with nets.

Fishing rods were
short at first.

getting longer as the sport

or livelihood
developed in Britain.

And fishing reels
to bring in the catch?

Early ones began
appearing in the 1700's.

Growing fruits and vegetables is
a very personal thing for

the family that you're about to
meet.

The Carpenter family, who lives
in Arkansas, working hard

to bring fresh food to you and
spend quality time

together on the land.

♪

Little Rock, Arkansas River
Market sits right along the

banks of the Arkansas River.

As you might expect, farm
fresh produce

is one of the draws.

Welcome to Little
Rock, Arkansas!

One vendor that's been
popular with buyers for

decades is the
Carpenter family,

selling and sharing
produce grown

on their extensive family farm.

(Greeting Customers)

Heading up the Carpenter
contingent here

is Abraham Carpenter, Jr.

Abraham, everywhere I've
seen in here today,

and you're doing it now,
all I see are smiles.

Well I got a lot to
be grateful for, Rob.

The Carpenters' stand is one
of the largest at the market

and the family's produce has
made them known state wide.

People have a choice.

You know they have a choice.

There are probably 100
other vendors here

but the majority of them,
you know,

they're going to come and
they're going to

patronize our business.

If they buy from other
vendors which

I'm happy that they do,
they keep everybody

spread all of that around,
but they make sure

that they take care of us.

I love it.

I love their personalities,
they're great,

and they help out.

They're very friendly and
of course uh..

you can negotiate some prices
on occasion so uh..

I love coming.

I feel like I'm
at home with them.

I've gotten to know them
over the past several months

so it does feel like home.

Most of my customers
are my friends.

They come and purchase their
products and take care of me

and in return I treat them
by giving them the quality

products that they need
and excellent service.

And a couple of free ears
of corn I saw earlier.

Exactly, exactly.

You know I've learned over
the years

it never hurts to give.

The Carpenters' success
began with an experiment

some forty years ago when
Abraham's mother, Katie

started the family farm
with one acre

and a dream.

She was working one acre of
land

and made more off of that one
acre of land

than my dad made off of his
whole job that year.

He was working at
a lumber company.

He told her he said, Now if
you can do this

I'm going to quit my job
and I'm going to

start growing produce for a
time.

And that's what he did.

Today, the family's farm
in Grady has grown

to 1500 hundred acres raising
more than 30 varieties

of fruits and vegetables.

In addition to family
members working the land,

the Carpenters hire some 50
seasonal workers

making them one of
the largest employers

in their rural community.

The Carpenter produce will
make its way to supermarket

shelves from Chicago
to California.

You know it's all fun
and games at the market.

Yes it is.

But you get here
on the farm

and it is a lot
of hard work.

A lot of hard
work, it really is.

On this day, Abraham, one if
his sisters

and two of his brothers,
are bringing in cucumbers

from the field.

We may put in sixteen,

twenty hours a day, six
sometimes seven days a week.

In addition to long
hours, the Carpenters,

like most farmers, face
challenges from the weather.

This season, high winds
and heavy rains

from the tail end of a
hurricane took their toll.

You know you took a
bit hit this year.

You lost all your greens.

All my greens.

That's a million dollar hit.

Yes.

Your watermelons.

How much of a loss is that?

About half a
million dollar hit.

Most people they see the
finished product

coming to the market and
at the grocery stores

but they don't realize you
invest and I probably invest

over a million dollars each year
in my crops to produce them.

Weathering the storms....
the Carpenters credit family

togetherness for
seeing them through.

We just kept
working, working,

saving us a little money,
bought us some

land and that was it.

All the kids growed
up and they worked.

Turnips, okra, all
that was picked, peas,

all that was
picked yesterday.

And I saw these peas.

You know, I spent hours as a
kid shelling these things

by hand and now they're
coming out by the hundreds.

Yeah we have a pea
sheller that you can pour

a bushel or two bushels
in and shell them

in about two to three minutes.

Abraham's been working the
farm since he was a child.

Those efforts...

with the
help of his family...

have won the Carpenters
accolades in Arkansas

Awards for their impact on the
community....

Inductees into the Arkansas
Black Hall of Fame...

Regional Farm Family of the
Year...

And recognition by the
Arkansas Hall of Fame.

(Field workers talk....)

As for the future?

Abraham says it's
farming and faith

that will see them through.

I want to make sure
that I do a great job at

what we're doing.

I want to fine tune
what we're doing.

We're going to keep on doing
the same thing

that we started, raising
vegetables,

providing quality products,

excellent service and
giving thanks to God.

Arkansas is high on
the list for several

of the country's
agricultural activities.

Nicknamed the
"Natural State".

Arkansas leads the nation in
rice production and makes

the top five in
cotton production,

poultry and aquaculture.

One other thing that
comes from Arkansas soil...

diamonds are
mined in Arkansas.

I'm Jason Shoultz.

Still ahead, come with me to
Wyoming to find out what it

takes for a family to
preserve a ranch that's been

in their family since the
turn of the last century.

I'm Sarah Gardner.

Coming up, we'll take
you to Massachusetts

and a community effort that's
helping fishermen

deliver their catch
to consumers.

♪

Hi I'm Paul Robins and
here's something

you may not have known
about agriculture.

If I asked you to name the
most popular fruit

in the world, what
would you say?

Well, apples are high
on the popularity list.

People do like bananas
and.... excuse the pun...

why have only one fruit when you
can have a pear.

But if you thought
about a plant that

most people consider a
vegetable but is

really... botanically...
a fruit,

you would have to give the
tomato its rightful due.

Think about it, tomatoes are
used in all kinds of food

from salads to pizzas, to
pastas even fruit juices.

And they're a fruit
with a colorful past...

Credit the Aztecs of
Mesoamerica with the

early cultivation of tomatoes,
but other civilizations in..

what is today Mexico and
central America

were already dining on tomatoes
well before 500 BC.

Early varieties included
tomatoes that were small and

yellow in color.. often prepared
with peppers, corn and salt.

That might work well
in a taco today!

Fast forward to the
1500's... the Spanish arrive,

discover the tomato and make
the fruit

available all across the
Caribbean and even

into the Philippines and
Southeast Asia.

Brought back to Europe,
tomatoes were grown in Spain

and really took off in Italy
where they are still

an important part of Italian
cuisine.

And while they were
native to the Americas,

it's thought that their
popularity in the Caribbean

prompted their introduction to
the mainland U.S. around 1700.

And we should mention
Joseph Campbell.

Back in 1897 he came up with
the idea of using tomatoes

to create a new kind
of condensed soup.

Campbell's soups took off
and the rest is history.

Keeping a farm or
ranch in the same

family is a serious
commitment.

Preserving the land an
insuring it's there

for the next caretakers
requires

working closely together
as a family.

For the Livingston
Family in Wyoming,

that means carrying on the
legacy of a lost loved one.

This particular ranch has a
beautiful setting to start with

and it's rolling hills,
timber and ridges.

These wide open
spaces near Sundance, Wyoming

are home to a family with
a deep connection to this land.

♪

At the time I was growing up
here we hayed with horses

and fed with horses
in the winter time.

Ellis Livingston is the
patriarch of a family that's

worked their ranch for
more than a century.

His son, Perry, oversees the
day to day operations here.

Like many places
in the heartland,

the Livingston ranch is
the story of changes:

in agriculture and in the lives
of those who call this home.

I lived here all of my life.
Been here 60 years and so

this is all I ever wanted to do
is operate the ranch.

Perry and his wife, Carla,
raised their children on

this land - the setting for
innumerable family memories.

Some are painful: Carla
lost her life to cancer.

She did a lot
for our family.

She was an instigator
of get togethers.

She was a spreader of love and
encouragement

and joy that's one of the
things that made

growing up here on the ranch
such a blessing.

Perry considers his efforts
a tribute to what Carla

brought to their family's
life here - a belief in the

importance of agriculture
to families everywhere.

Come on, c'mon girls.

American Agriculture has
made tremendous advances in

the last hundred years and
we're still feeding the world.

We continue to
feed the world.

That's the thing that
makes me proud to be in

agriculture is we are
providing a substance to the

whole nation and a
lot of the world.

Continuity with preserving
agriculture's past...

and planning for its future...
is something the Livingstons

take great pride in. And it
shows. In 2010, they were

honored with Wyoming's
Centennial Farm and Ranch award.

It's just taken a lot of
work to maintain and to whip

this land into shape with
the farming and with the

ranching and with the fencing.
There's a lot of work here and

there's still, you know, a lot
to be done.

Much has changed since
the day when

Perry's grandfather purchased
this land.

Some things remain the
same, however:

Early mornings... and...
long days

taking care of crops
and livestock.

♪

People look at
all this vastness of land,

but it takes many acres to
feed a cow in Wyoming when

you're at 5,000 feet
elevation and you're only

counting on from 12 to
18 inches of rainfall.

All it can produce is most
places grass and

that's a renewable resource.

Hanna...

The family takes
pride in their past.

Looking back on more
than a century here,

they can point to changes
that made possible more...

and better...ways to improve the
land and increase production.

There we are.
You and I up north.....

Up north.

This ranch can sustain
itself and with just a

little bit of management and
I would hope that it would

stay in the family and they
would continue to operate it.

This land to me holds
a beauty that's so sentimental.

When you grow up here and
spend so many days here,

and so many winters here

and so many holidays here, I
mean, this is family.

It's pride. Probably more
than anything.

Proud to be a part of
this life...

Want to impress your
friends with some

unusual facts about cows?
Try these:

Cows can produce about 125
pounds of saliva in a day!

Cows don't "bite"
grass as they eat.

Rather, they use their
tongues and lips

to pull grass from
the ground.

And their digestive systems
allow them to chew and re-chew

their food with more than 40
thousand jaw movements in a day.

Any number of health studies
these days suggest that most of

us could benefit from a diet
that includes more seafood.

Going out to sea to deliver
that catch

is a challenging way to
make a living.

Here in Massachusetts,
getting that catch to

consumers has prompted
an interesting community effort.

♪

You know, it's
a daily grind.

You put your feet on the
floor every morning, hit the

ground running, and you got out
and you try to go fishing.

Daniel Dunbar figures he's

been catching fish since he was
five years old.

He's the latest in a long
line of Gloucester fisherman

who've harvested the ocean's
bounty for centuries.

Daniel loves his work,
but admits

it's an unpredictable
profession.

You never know when the
fish will show up.

Every day is different.
Every year is different.

Every month is different.

You know, certain months are
better than other months,

but not necessarily.
I pay for my daughters'

tuitions with this stuff,
you know what I mean?

College isn't cheap, mortgages
aren't cheap. This boat pays for

certainthings and if
this boat disappears,

now I gotta figure out how to,
to replace those payments.

Dating back to
the early 1600's,

Gloucester is one of the
oldest towns in New England.

Fishing has been its lifeblood
since the eighteenth century.

It was once the largest
fishing port in America.

But for countless
generations of fisherman,

the sea has been both
generous and unforgiving.

This statue and wall of
remembrance honors more than

five thousand souls lost to
the restless north Atlantic.

(Sounds of workmen
loading fish)

Fishermen here face stiff
competition from overseas
suppliers.

Marine educator Nancy
Sullivan says that's caused

a steady decline in the
number of Gloucester fishermen.

We had some six thousand
fishermen in the 1800's here

in Gloucester, and now
there's just a few hundred.

(Sounds of Crates
being loaded)

But now, there's an effort
underway in to keep

fishermen in business and
preserve this way of life.

The Northwest Atlantic Marine
Alliance was created to help

small fishing communities from
Maine to North Carolina.

Executive Director Niaz
Dorry says they help each

town create a Community
Supported Fishery - with

local residents signing up
to receive fresh fish weekly

directly from the source at
a fair and stable price.

Our work really involves
empowering

the community-based
fishermen.

So in this political arena
where they're forced to

scale up or sell out, they
can choose a third option,

which is to actually fit
within the right scale and

operate at a small scale,
feed their local community

and make a living they
can actually exist on.

Each day, the fresh catch is
brought to

markets like
Turner Seafoods.

That's where Community
Supported Fishery members

like JoeAnn Hart stop by
to pick up their order.

The quality is better
because it's so very fresh.

And it's coming right off
the water here in Gloucester

and not Asia or
South America.

I think the more people
that participate,

the more money
the fishermen get.

Morning Brenda.

Hi, how are you?

Good.

Turner Seafoods owner Jim
Turner says the program

actually keeps money
circulating within the

town...and helps keep his
retail business healthy.

The captains are getting
paid top dollar for their

fish and we're busy 'cause
we're able to keep our guys

working and filleting, and
so it is...

it's a win-win for
everybody.

The Community Supported
Fishery concept is modeled

after the Community
Supported Agriculture

programs that began in the U.S.
in the 1980's.

Like the model for
farmers, it provides

a steady, reliable
price, income,

and customer base for the
fishermen's catch.

We get together and the
organization pools the money

and pays the fishermen to
catch the fish for our table.

You know, instead of being
told what they're going to

get for their fish, they
know what they're going to get.

So it's good for
stability for everybody.

♪

Stability for the fishermen,
for the community,

and...say these folks...for
the marine environment.

A steady market means
fishermen can

concentrate on a quality
catch, not quantity.

You're doing better.

You're not depleting...
you're not

catching fish in
such great numbers.

People are going to talk
about fresh seafood,

there's no
question about it.

I think it's very
important to these,

to these boats
because, you know,

it's anything like that
where they're trying to

promote fresh fish
for the communities,

which is what it's really all
about.

So if you care about the
health of the ocean, you should

care about who catches the
fish you want to eat.

That's going to
wrap it up for us.

We're always glad that you
could come along as we discover

interesting people and
places in America's Heartland.

And remember that you can
stay in touch with us 24/7.

We make it easy for you.

You'll find us on your
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you can always access video and
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at our website:
americasheartland.org

We'll see you next time...

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America's Heartland.

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