America's Heartland is made
possible by

...They make up
a small part of our population,

but have a huge
impact on our lives.

They take business risks that
few others would tolerate

all on our behalf.

They're American farmers who
feed, fuel and clothe the world.

Monsanto would like to
recognize them for all they do,

for the rest of us, because
ultimately our success

and everyone
else's depends on theirs

...and by the American Farm
Bureau Federation

- the voice of agriculture.

COMING UP.

it goes from
field to fabric...practically

right down the road

...the whole cotton-pickin'
story of Texas denim

...a mushrooming business
earns dollars in the dark

...AND  chile conditions in
New Mexico mean hot times

for
growers...and festival-goers.

America's Heartland is next.

♪ 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 America's Heartland. ♪

Hello and welcome to
  America's Heartland.

I'm Paul Ryan.

Farming is like
any business. To stay profitable

and competitive, you have
to find new, more efficient ways

to create your products.

That's what our Pat McConahay
found in Lubbock, Texas,

where a group of
clever cotton growers not only

plant the fields
and pick the crop, they also own

the nearby
factory that turns it into denim

- a fabric
used to make some of the world's

most popular fashions.

These machines
are turning out one of the most

widely used
fabrics in the world - denim.

Chances are your favorite pair
of jeans started out

in a
cotton field near Lubbock Texas.

So this is a pretty good year?

Yeah, it's pretty
good, real good.

We are, a lot of these bolls up
here have opened up real nicely.

Good news for Dahlen Hancock,
a 4th generation cotton grower.

He's a member of the Plains
Cotton Cooperative Association,

the worlds largest producer and
supplier of Texas style cotton.

It's also the only farmer-owned
cooperative that operates it's

own denim manufacturing plant.

So what's
picked in the field one day

could be fabric the next (day.)

But here's where the denim
story actually begins:

This ominous-looking
machine, the cotton picker,

has certainly made the fall
harvest a lot easier

than in the days when
people picked cotton by hand.

IT TAKES IN EIGHT
ROWS AT A TIME.

IT HAS SOME LITTLE
BATS AND BRUSHES.

BY THAT I MEAN LITTLE RUBBER
BATS AND BRUSHES THAT ACTUALLY

WIPE THE COTTON, AND IT BRUSHES
AND IT TAKES IT OFF THE PLANT.

A combination of saws and
brushes extract the cotton

from the burr.

The cotton or  lint is dumped
into what's called a boll buggy

and taken to an area where it's
packed into what looks like

huge loaves of
bread with wrappers on the top.

ONCE THE COTTON
IS HARVESTED FROM THE FIELD,

IT GOES ONTO THE
NEXT STEP, THE GIN, WHERE IT'S

CLEANED OF
ALL THIS TRASH, AS THEY CALL IT.

YOU DON'T WANT THIS WINDING
UP IN YOUR DENIM JACKET.

The cotton is sucked into the
building through powerful pipes

that send it to various cleaning
processes to remove dirt,

leaves and even plastic that
may have wound up in the field.

Next the seeds are removed from
the lint so the fiber can be

made into your
next pair of jeans.

And where that happens?

This textile
plant that's not too far from

Dahlen Hancock's cotton field.

The Co-op was formed in 1953 to
help farmers get the best price

for their product.

About twenty
years later members wanted to

even more to boost their
agricultural operation.

BACK IN THE 1970'S
MANY OF US FARMERS REALIZED THAT

THE COTTON WE
PRODUCED WAS GOING INTO DENIM,

AND DECIDED WE SHOULD BE
PRODUCING A VALUE-ADDED PRODUCT

RATHER THAN JUST
AN AGRICULTURAL, RAW MATERIAL.

So they created American
Cotton Growers Denim Mill

in
Littlefield, Texas near Lubbock.

Today the mill
turns out enough denim to make

20
million pairs of jeans a year.

Darneille says this plant
is just one place

where the cooperative's cotton
goes, but it's an important one.

IT HAS BECOME SUCH A COMPETITIVE
MARKET NOW WITH SO MANY

DIFFERENT COUNTRIES GETTING INTO
IT, THAT IT'S STILL A PROFITABLE

BUSINES FOR US, BUT NOT NEARLY
AS MUCH AS IT WAS BEFORE.

HOWEVER, OUR MEMBERS THINK IT
IS IMPORTANT THAT WE MAKE A

VALUE-ADDED PRODUCT.

A product that begins with the
baled cotton being separated

into
small tufts and then blended

with various cotton fibers.

Darneille says this is one of
the few mills where everything

happens under one roof from
spinning...weaving...dyeing

...finishing...packing
and shipping.

WHEN WE CONCEIVED THAT IT WAS A
TURNKEY OPERATION, WE SAID

WE WANT TO GO ALL THE WAY
FROM COTTON TO FINISHED DENIM.

That denim is
sent to Mexico or Latin America

to be turned into apparel.

Darneille says there
isn't much difference between

the quality of denim
in a ten dollar pair of jeans

and a 300 dollar pair.

The
difference is in the styling.

WE WERE IN A FACTORY THE OTHER
DAY. THEY SPEND 18 MINUTES

MAKING
THE PERFECT PAIR OF JEANS.

THEN THEY SPEND
32 MINUTES TEARING IT APART

- SANDING IT, SAND BLASTING
IT, CUTTING IT WITH SCISSORS,

DOING ALL SORTS OF DIFFERENT
THINGS TO ACHIEVE

THIS VINTAGE LOOK...

...which
helps make cotton the single

best selling fabric in America.

As for the future, Co-ops like
this one are always looking

for new ways
to uses that time-honored fabric

- good news for
US cotton farmers whose product

is still in demand worldwide .

There's something else America
makes with its cotton crop:

money. Cold cotton cash.

The people who work for the U.S.

Mint can turn one bale of cotton
into more than 300-thousand

100-dollar bills!

That's 30-million bucks
if you care to count 'em .

Denim jeans are just
the kind of comfortable

- rugged clothing you might need
for our next story

on the shores of Lake Superior.

Cold, vast and deep.
It's virtually an inland ocean,

and it can be a foreboding.

But at the far western end of
the lake, just north of Duluth,

Minnesota, a productive
harvest is going on virtually

year-round: lake herring,
a smokehouse favorite.

And it takes a special kind
of character to brave Superior

alone, in an open boat, (and)
to chase down this native fish.

There isn't that
much sea or wind,

so we're kind of
blessed this morning.

Somewhere behind the
lead-gray clouds,

the October sun's just
rising on Lake Superior.

Steve Dahl is pulling his living
from its bitterly cold water.

That
was a good pull. Wake you up.

It's only gonna be
about 60, 70 pounds.

But that's
ok. That's the way it is, too.

You can't do anything about it.

His harvest? The lake herring.

A whitefish native to
Superior's icy depths.

A favorite of the many
descendants of

Scandinavian
settlers in these parts

- now in the midst of a comeback
from pollution and parasites

that nearly drove it
extinct thirty years ago.

I can go a couple of months
without fish, or very little.

You just have to hope they
move in, and when they do,

it's
a lot of fish. You never know.

Dahl's herring
nets are set semi-permanently

a few miles
outside the Knife River Harbor

on the shore of this
huge and temperamental lake.

He works alone, and he plays
the waiting game: his nets catch

herring only at night,
only when they're feeding,

(and) only when they happen by
this part of the lake.

There is just no other way to
fish here. That's only 300 feet,

and I have a hard time
making sure it stays there.

Superior doesn't give
up its fish easily.

Wind and waves
change in an instant.

In the good winter
fishing months,

Dahl will be fishing in
temperatures far below zero

if the lake hasn't frozen over.

It's a tough way
to make a living,

but I wouldn't trade it for
anything: to be out on the lake

every morning.

Dahl cleans his herring in a
shed near his home in the hills

above the lake.

This is a pretty simple order.

In the fall, then
I'm back-splitting.

I can do 70 pounds
every 15 minutes.

(In) the bulk of the year,
it's local markets, restaurants,

supermarkets,
(and) smoke houses.

An hour out of the water,
Dahl's catch is in the hands

of Gordon
Olson at Kendall's Smokehouse,

on the shore road near Duluth.

We sell his herring filleted, or
scaled and headless, or smoked.

It's a ancient process
of smoking that we do here.

It's nothing new - nothing
very sophisticated about it.

The fish are brined
overnight in a salt solution,

(then) they're placed
in the ovens, and they're smoked

over open fires.

And we use
exclusively Maplewood.

The electric ovens don't add
the natural flavor

that the wood
does on the old-time ovens here.

Dealing with Steve and
shoremen like that

is absolutely fantastic.
They're down to earth.

Everybody gets along: from catch
the fish to when you sell it

- that's what you gotta
have. So Steve's a good man.

A local delicacy will keep its
place in Minnesota kitchens

and restaurants, thanks to
a few fishermen like Steve Dahl.

Because regardless of the
odds, they like working alone.

They like challenging the
vastness of Lake Superior.

They like putting food
on people's tables.

My job is to supply people
who can't access the resource,

but have a right to it.

Lake Superior alone holds an
astonishing 10-percent

of the earth's fresh water.

- nearly 3-thousand cubic miles.

That's enough to flood the
entire continents of North and

South America with a
foot of fresh water.

Still ahead.

Rooting around in North Carolina
for the crop that can command

2-thousand dollars a pound.

And the real  red-hots hit
the big time in the Southwest!

Let's move back onto dry
land and head east

to the farms and fields
of Chester County, Pennsylvania.

That's where we found another
specialty crop that grows

in entirely different conditions
- dark, dank and humid!

We're
talking mushrooms. And Pat says

this fantastic
fungi is fueling a small fortune

for one farm family that's
been growing them commercially

for more than eighty years.

Mushrooms seem to go with about
anything - from soup to salad.

One reason they're so versatile
is that there are so many

different kinds.

And here's one family
that knows about them all.

The Basciani family's been
making mushrooms

since the 1920's.

It started with grandfather,
Emedio, an Italian immigrant.

Their farm is in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, where the U.S.

mushroom industry began
in the early 1900's.

Today, it's Pennsylvania's
leading crop.

Farmers produce nearly five
hundred million pounds

of the
fungi each year - almost half

the nation's total.

The key to growing mushrooms?
When you get up in the morning,

you look
up the sky. The sun's shining,

the sky's out, (and)
you gotta be ready to work.

You have to enjoy
what you're doing.

And it's hard to do
that 7 days a week.

The process begins
here in the compost pile.

It's
a mixture of very ripe manure

and different kinds of straw.

SO
MICHAEL THIS IS THE SECOND STAGE

OF THE MUSHROOM GROWING PROCESS.

YES.

LET'S OPEN THE DOOR.

THIS IS THE
PASTEURIZATION STAGE.

OOH, IT'S LIKE
ROTTEN VEGETABLES.

It's the smell of ammonia as
the compost is pasteurized

or steam-cooked so the
growing environment is sterile

and free of impurities.

The temperature in this
room will eventually reach

150-degrees Fahrenheit before
the process is complete!

In about two weeks, once
the compost is ready,

it's seeded with a tiny
cultured fungus called a spawn.

NOW IF I DIG INTO
THIS WITH MY HAND,

(THEN) YOU SEE HOW IT'S
GROWING IN THE COMPOST.

(YOU) SEE THE WHITE SPECKS
STARTING TO GROW.

THEY'RE GETTING
A BLUISH, WHITEISH, GREY LOOK...

And in a few more weeks,
those specks become mushrooms

- their growth
monitored every step of the way.

Anybody can just close their
eyes and just pick every

mushroom on the
bed. A good harvester can tell

when
a mushroom's ripe or not ripe.

The Bascianis produce a
million pounds

of mushrooms a week.

One type, the Shiitake,
does well in Asian markets.

Sales of this exotic mushroom
are growing about 15-percent

a year in the U.S.

And the Shiitake is grown
like this - on wood logs.

THIS
IS BEAUTIFUL. IT'S SO UNUSUAL.

THAT'S
THE OLD-FASHIONED TRUMPET.

THAT'S
A TRUMPET MUSHROOM. WE CALL IT

A CANARY YELLOW OYSTER.

THESE
ARE JUMBO - JUMBO PORTABELLAS.

WE CALL THEM HUBCAPS...I GUESS
SO. THEY'RE AS BIG AS YOUR HEAD!

Portabellas are actually
Crimini mushrooms

that have been allowed to grow
to their distinctive large size.

They've become one of the
Basciani's top sellers.

Commercial mushroom growers make
up a relatively small

farming community - less
than three hundred nationwide.

But business is booming:
Americans eat more than

a billion pounds a year.

With this growing fungi fondness
comes new opportunities for

growers like the Bascianis.

It's the challenge,
and it's just the love.

I like feeding people.

We're actually
feeding the world  .

Of the world's
more than 70-thousand species

of
mushrooms, only 250 ever make it

to the dinner table.

Most are tough, bitter, or
tasteless. And a few contain

potentially lethal poisons.

If white mushrooms are
the  Chevrolets of fungi,

then these next products must
be considered the  Cadillac's !

Truffles are an expensive
delicacy usually grown

and harvested
in the forests of France.

But Jason Shoultz met one
truffle lover who discovered

they also do well in the
hills of North Carolina.

And now, he's convincing
other farmers to give up

their tractors and
grow this new crop  underground .

TRUFFLE, GINGER, TRUFFLE!

Franklin Garland
isn't just taking his dog Ginger

for a walk in the park.

Garland is demonstrating
truffle hunting for us.

You can't see the
truffles, but Garland is certain

there is a  fungus among us .

The fungus grows on
the roots of the trees

- the actual fungus.

It's a symbiotic relationship,
so it is mutually beneficial.

Wait a minute, you say,
I've eaten truffles many times.

They didn't come
from the ground,

and sure didn't
taste like a fungus.

You are right.
Those were chocolate truffles.

But if Franklin Garland has
his way, this black round

Tuber Melanosporum fungus
is the truffle that we will

come to know and love instead.

So, breakfast, lunch, dinner?

Anything.
Truffles are good anytime  .

To prove it, Franklin invited
me to try a truffle omelet!

You won't
find them on the breakfast menu

at your local greasy spoon.

Black Perigord Truffles are
popular but expensive dishes at

upscale restaurants.

It's very tasty.
If you like them, you really

really like them a lot.

And what if I don't?

Then tell me. I'll eat the rest.

There's a small percentage
of people who don't like them.

I can describe
what people who don't like them

think they taste like:

They think they taste
like dirty gym socks!

Ha. Ha.

Well we are going to have
a  dirty gym sock omelet, then.

I've never eaten one,
so I don't really know.

This  fun guy often invites
guests to his kitchen

to sample fungi cuisine.

He says the
omelet is the perfect partner

for the black truffle's distinct
earthy and nutty flavor.

This is really truffly.

That's really good.

And it's unique.

The origin of the truffle
can be traced back to France.

As far back as the 15th century,
pigs were used to sniff them out

from the roots of
trees in the forests.

Today they are grown using trees
inoculated with fungus spores.

But until recently
the only place they would grow

was in Europe.

Until 1979 when Franklin Garland
bought inoculated trees

from France,
planted an orchard on his

North
Carolina property, and waited.

And even then, it was not until
1992 that I had my first truffle

in my hand.

So we are talking close to
12 years from the time I planted

to the time
I actually harvested truffles.

Garland's discovery,
that truffles could grow

in the North Carolina
soil, was ground breaking

in the world of truffles.

Now he supplies his truffles
to chefs at upscale restaurants

around the
country and just down the road.

As a flavor, you can't get
anything that's even

remotely close to it.

Garland shares truffles
with Chef Sam Poley to create

interesting dishes at
Starlu restaurant in Durham,

North Carolina.

They are too expensive to
be a regular menu item.

But Poley says the fungus is
perfect for experimenting:

like truffle popcorn
or even truffle martinis!

That's a seriously
good martini!

Franklin Garland and his
wife Betty's latest venture

is selling specially treated
trees for truffle-growing.

And they are getting interest
from all over North Carolina.

Seems
lots of folks want to get into

the truffle-growing business.

Why? Money.

The lowest they have been in
the last five years is

$500 dollars a pound.

And they got up to  $1600
and in some cases

$2,000 a pound.

Yeah, I'm in truffles now.

So I am a certified
truffle farmer.

In 1999 Charles Bradley
invested $5000 dollars to

plant 500 of Garland's
treated hazelnut trees.

Anytime now, truffles should
start growing in the roots.

Which brings
us back to why Garland's dog

is nosing around here:

Ginger's snout is sniffing
for underground truffles

like the pigs used to do.

It's sight unseen.

You have to have a little faith
to know what's going on under

the ground  .

Some quick math
tells you why Charles Bradley

is taking the risk.

A good year could produce
100 pounds of truffles an acre.

He's got two acres of trees.

Let's say he gets 1-thousand
dollars a pound.that would total

2-hundred grand
for that good year.

Sound to good to be true?

A lot of naysayers.

Especially my brother.

" "What did he say? ".

"Well, He says I'm crazy.

Ha ha. "

Or nuts!

Hazelnuts are growing on the
branches of these inoculated

trees .but no truffles
underground - so far.

But these guys are
confident that they will.

And while Franklin makes no
guarantees of success. Charles

Bradley is looking forward
to proving his brother wrong!

So when I get the
truffles in hand.

I can go show him!

Why did nature cheat North
America out of its own wild

truffles?

It didn't.

Edible native truffles are
harvested in Texas and Oregon.

Oregon white truffles now
command 150-dollars

or more per pound.

Let's wrap up this edition of
America's Heartland with another

specialty crop that's pretty hot
right now - both in popularity

and flavor.

You may think the chile pepper
is a relative newcomer in

American ag, but fact is, George
Washington cultivated hot chiles

on his farm at Mount Vernon.

Since then, it's evolved into an
astounding array of species and

varieties.

I recently visited the small
town of Hatch, New Mexico,

and discovered it's a real
hotbed for learning about - and

sampling - this hot crop.

WELL, I HAD ALWAYS DREAMED OF
BECOMING AN AIRLINE PILOT AND

AFTER HIGH SCHOOL HERE IN HATCH

I ATTENDED COLLEGE
AT NEW Mexico state UNIVERSITY

AND HADN'T PLANNED ON
COMING BACK TO HATCH AND FARM. "

Chris Franzoy's high-flying
dreams of getting behind the

wheel of a jetliner took a
back seat when the family farm

beckoned.. It was hard for Chris
to ignore almost one hundred

years of family history in
this warm fertile valley,

where growing conditions for all
things chile turned out to be

ideal.

"Before coming here I
had never heard of hatch,

new Mexico or even a hatch
chile for that matter.

But these little things right
here have put this

tiny town on the map.

a town that claims to be the
chile capital of not just

New Mexico
or America, but the world. "

Many of Hatch's 2000 residents
are involved in some aspect of

the chile business.

It all started around 1888 when
a horticulturist at the

New
Mexico College of Agriculture

began experimenting with
different types of chile pods.

As time went by, some did
especially well in the fertile

New Mexico soil, turning the
state into a mecca for chile

growers.

Chile fanatics soon followed and
Hatch became their ground zero.

Among the biggest players in
the local chile business is the

Franzoy family and their
"Young Guns Produce Co. "

"Hatch chile is very famous,
very popular because of its

spicy flavor.

Our business is growing at the
rate of ten percent a year. "

And what is it that's heating
up our taste for chiles?

"It's addictive.

Once you've had it the first
time you're gonna want it

again and again. "

"This is the Big Jim variety.

It's a large pepper.

it's a medium hot pepper and
it's used primarily for making

chiles rellenos. "

The chile harvest begins
around the first of August and

is done by hand.

That's because these chiles must
be picked carefully without any

bruises, cracks or breaks
which can occur with mechanical

harvesters.

By mid-to-late September, these
green chiles have turned red.

They're picked by machine and
ground into chile powder or red

pepper flakes that you sprinkle
on pizza and other foods.

vOY A HABLAR CON LARRY."

AFTER HARVESTING,
Chris oversees sorting

IN
THE YOUNG GUNS WAREHOUSE,

where the fresh chiles are BOXED
UP OR SEALED IN BURLAP SACKS.

hatch chiles CAN BE ROASTED,
PEELED, AND CANNED whole,

or ROASTED, PEELED AND CHOPPED
FOR DISHES LIKE green chile

enchiladas, or CHILE. VERDE,

A GREEN CHILE STEW.

THE FAVORITE DISH AROUND HERE
FOR WHOLE fresh CHILES IS CHILES

RELLENOS-GREEN CHILES STUFFED
WITH CHEESE AND COATED WITH A

LIGHT BATTER.

OUR WEB SITE FEATURES AN
AUTHENTIC NEW MEXICO RECIPE.

♪

"The hotter the better.
Want some? "

"No" No place is better to
sample the authentic taste of

Hatch than at its annual Chile
Festival on Labor Day Weekend.

That's when this little town
swells with thousands of people

crazy.about chile.

WADE WORRELL HAS BEEN INVOLVED
FOR SOME THIRTY YEARS AND LIKES

HIS CHILE ON THE HOT SIDE.

"You can tell when you
got some good chile.

you kind of start
perspiring on your face.

Your eyes water a little bit.

That's just about right.

Any hotter than that It's
a little tough for me. "

AND FOR ME, too, since a
little heat goes a long way.

The next time
you pick up a can of chiles or

buy 'em fresh at
the grocery store,

remember the
little town of hatch.

where green
chiles have turned to gold  .

Well, those chili
peppers may be tasty,

but don't even think about
trying a hot one unless you've

got plenty of milk on hand
to neutralize the heat,

water won't do it believe me, or
you might be able to slam back a

few margaritas to dull the pain!

Thanks for joining us, and we
hope you'll come along again

next time when we discover
more great farms, families,

and their fascinating stories.
in America's Heartland.

I'm Paul Ryan..
I'll see you next time

To learn more about this
edition of America's Heartland,

or to give us your feedback,

visit americasheartland
- dot - org.

To order a copy
of this broadcast,

visit us online or
call 1-888-814-3923.

The cost is 14.95 plus shipping

♪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

...They make up
a small part of our population,

but have a huge
impact on our lives.

They take business risks that
few others would tolerate

all on our behalf.

They're American farmers who
feed, fuel and clothe the world.

Monsanto would like to
recognize them for all they do,

for the rest of us, because
ultimately our success

and everyone
else's depends on theirs

...and by the American Farm
Bureau Federation

- the voice of agriculture.