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hi, i'm sarah gardner. we're set to take you ona cross country journey this time to meet somefarmers and ranchers who say that protectingthe environment is critical for folks in the cityand folks on the farm. running a dairy farmproduces lots of manure. this michigan farmer hastaken steps to become a better neighborwhen it comes to preventing water pollution.
we'll take you to virginiawhere farmer robert mills says improving theenvironment can also improve profitability. then, improvements rightat the ground level. we'll head for thesugarcane fields of louisiana where one farmer isworking to improve the soil that's sustained hisfamily for generations. and we'll take you into thekitchen with sharon profis. she's serving up asweet tasting recipe
you'll want to try. that's in ourfarm to fork segment. it's all coming up onamerica's heartland. ♪♪ >>america's heartland ismade possible by... croplife america-representing the companies whose modernfarming innovations help america's farmersprovide nutritious food for communitiesaround the globe.
>>the fund foragriculture education - a fund created bykvie to support america's heartlandprogramming. contributors includethe following: ♪♪ you can see it in the eyesof every woman and man ♪♪ ♪♪ in america's heartland,livin' close to the land ♪♪ ♪♪ there's a lovefor the country ♪♪ ♪♪ and a pridein the brand ♪♪ ♪♪ in america's heartland ♪♪
♪♪ livin' close...close to the land ♪♪ >>thanks for being with uson america's heartland. it's a fact of life thatin the past few years a growing segment ofthe population has become much more interested inamerican agriculture. increasing imports of foodsfrom other countries are part of the reason. concerns about e. coli andsalmonella are another. and some of that has to dowith a growing interest in
sustainability, air qualityand water pollution. those environmentalconcerns impact everyone whether you live inthe city or on a farm. solving those concernshas prompted farmers to address issues like wastewater from livestock pens. we've shown you manystories in which farmers have adopted no till farming-a method which leaves crop residue like cornstalksor wheat stalks in the field to help prevent erosion
and reduce theevaporation of water. and new technology likeglobal positioning makes it possible to have farm equipmenttarget specific plants, or rows of plants,reducing the amount of fertilizer or pesticidesneeded on a field. how does this impact you? well, let's introduceyou to some farmers all across the country
taking steps to addressenvironmental concerns. jason shoultz starts invirginia with a farmer who grew up in the city andmade his way to the farm. >>get him movinga little bit... >>a father and songetting ready to show goats atthe county fair. this kind of sceneis familiar to farm familiesfor generations. but that's notrobert mills' story.
he's something you don't seea lot of in the heartland- a first generation farmerwho grew up in the city. spending time on afarm as a youngster... he fell in lovewith the lifestyle and made up his mind. >>most 13 year olds don'tmake their mind up on what they want to do whenthey grow up... but i did. >>so robert joined the ffayouth agriculture group and started taking agricultureclasses in school.
and when robert toldhis parents about his dream of farming... >>and my dad kind oflaughed and said, "son, you can't do that. you've got to inherit afarm or we've got to have money or something for youto be able to do that." from that day forward,everything i have ever done has been to put ourselves in the position thatwe're in now and
that's to be a full-timeagriculture producer. [cows mooing] >>well, today,robert operates a farm with five hundredhead of cattle. he also raiseschickens on contract for a poultry producer. i think you appreciateit more when you actually build it yourself. robert's fresh approach allowshim to try new things...
to take a differentlook at farming and adopt practices that someold-timers might brush aside. he's most proud of hisenvironmental stewardship. >>as you can see, this wasactually a path where the cattle were coming down toget into the pond to drink. >>keeping livestock away fromfresh drinking water might seem counterintuitive, butthe cattle's hooves can damage the areas surroundingstreams and ponds- causing serious soil erosion.
>>and this has only beenthe first full season that the cattle have been outof this pond and already we're starting to see thevegetation come up naturally. >>now the cattle gettheir water from a well- clean water supplied by theseclean watering stations. and the water back at thepond is getting cleaner too. if a cow isn't drinkingdown here, well that cow isn't doing something elsedown here, either. >>this past summer therewas a gentleman,
he said he'd been fishinghere for about 15 years and this was the first summerthat he can ever remember seeing the bottomof the pond. >>of course it's hard tosee the impact here... this has only been fencedoff for a short time. but take a look at anotherpond that robert fenced off several years ago...trees are growing back, the water is clear,and the wildlife is back. >>this particular areawe actually reforested,
planted somefruit bearing trees, fenced the cattle outwhich gave 'em water, it gave 'em habitat andalso gave 'em food. >>this is what that other onewill look like in a few years >>exactly, you give the onewe looked at previously about three or four yearsand you'll start to see a lot of thesewoody vegetation come in. [water flowing] >>robert says they'veinvested about
100-thousand dollarsin these efforts. cost-sharingprograms with the state and federal governmenthelp ease the burden. >>but if you look atthe benefits, it makes us bettermanagers because we can rotationally graze and havewater in multiple paddocks. i think we get paid backover time for the money that we actually putinto these practices. >>not all farmers andranchers are convinced
that environmental efforts like these are worth thetrouble or expense. others question thebenefit to taxpayers... spending government money on privateenvironmental projects. >>even in this community,we've actually seen some farmers who who'vekind of been against what- or haven't changedto what we're doing, starting to makethat transition
because it justmakes good sense. >>for the mc cattle company, it's paid off with ahealthier herd and land that's better preservedfor future generations. [saying prayer] new approaches,determination in the face of adversity and a love offarming have proven to be the right combination forrobert mills and his family. >>agriculture,and the involvement that
i have had in agriculture,have given my family and i everything that we couldhave ever asked for. >>virginia has some famousfarmers to its credit. both thomas jefferson andgeorge washington had large farms in virginia. that story about washingtonchopping down a cherry tree might not be true, butorchards figured prominently in early americanagriculture. and early settlersfound that tobacco
provided a quick cash cropand virginia claims the earliest peanut farmsin the united states. >>farmers have knownfor centuries that good crops demand good soil. scientists will tellyou that it can take more than 300 yearsfor natural elements to create justone inch of topsoil. addressing erosion iscertainly the first step. rob stewart says that somefarmers are getting help
in learning how tomake sure that their soil is around for futuregenerations. >>meet lane blanchard -he's a 5th generation sugarcane farmer innew iberia, louisiana. >>my wife will tell you, y'know, i got sugarin my blood. >>lane's spenthis entire life in these leafy, green fieldsfarming 3,000 acres of sugarcane alongside hisfather, brothers and sons.
>>this cane will get upprobably on an average of about 10 feet tall. >>ten feet. >>yeah. at harvest time. >>and so where exactly isthe sugar coming from? >>well, actually, as thiscane's gonna grow, it makes what theycall internodes. >>internodes. okay. >>if you d- if youdig down deep inside,
there are very few now, but- >>oh, there it is. >>if you look-if you look here- >>that's the cane. >>that's the cane itself. and this is what it'lllook like, you know, once it grows outto maturity. louisiana's sub-tropicalweather provides the perfect climate forgrowing sugarcane-
a multi-million dollarcrop in the bayou state. each of these plantson lane's farm will produce for three years- with a sugarcane harvestevery 12 months. once harvested, thestalks of cane are hauled to a processing plantwhere they're crushed to extract the raw brownsugar crystals inside. after processing, truckswill haul the brown sugar to the plant's storage area.
how did they get whatyou grew to this? >>through a process what wecall grinding sugarcane. >>grinding sugarcane. and then whathappens from here? >>from here it's goingto go to a refinery and they'll refine it one moretime to make a white sugar. lane's sugar is shippedall over the world... ending up in soft drinks,candy, pastries... or in your morningcup of coffee.
being the latest in a longline of cane farmers is important to lane...and his family. >>i think i love it so muchbecause that's what he has always wanted to doand it's been in his family, y'know, for yearsand years and years, and y'know, now that myboys are working with him and i can see how muchthey love it. and just being alongtheir side helping and y'know, as a wife andit means a lot to us.
>>number one, try to help payfor this weed-control cost that thesugarcane farmer has. >>these days,improving the crop means improving the land onwhich the cane is grown. to do that, lane istaking part in the "louisiana masterfarmers program" - a statewide project withenvironmental course work and accreditation requirementsthat farmers must meet. >>lane is doingeverything he can to
improve his soil quality because he knows howimportant it is and it's for thefuture of the farm. it's not something thathe's gonna get an immediate return on and it's greatfarm management technique. >>the soil is very important and we've been takingevery measure we can to preserve the soil forfuture generations. >>the expansive tracts ofsugarcane here are a far cry
from the 90 acresfirst planted by lane's father, harvey,a half century ago. but the family's farmingdream remains the same- watching the roots of thisfarm continue to grow in good times and bad. >>but farming'sthat way, you know. you gotta be there whenit's bad to reap the goods. >>i'm proud of him andthe boys for all they've y'know, come through becauseit was good times and bad.
>>why is it sospecial to you, lane? >>well, it's alli've ever done. i mean, i grew up on a farm and it's all i everwanted to do. >>well, you're livin'your dream. >>yep. >>and it's a sweet one, too. >>yeah... [laughing]exactly right. >>sugarcane ispart and parcel
of louisiana'sagricultural history. jesuit priestsfirst brought sugarcane to the state in the 1750s, finding louisiana'sclimate and soil perfect for the plant. it's also a popular crop inalmost every tropical and subtropical region on earth- grown in more than90 countries worldwide. >>we know that lots of youlike a touch of sweetness
when it comes to the disheson your dinner table. but we're not talkingabout desserts here. our sharon profis isin the kitchen and she has a sweet peach treat that you'll wanna trywith your main dish meals. >>there are so many wayspeaches can brighten up a dish and not just deserts. when i have a bunch ofpeaches over the summer, one of my favorite things tomake is a peach chimichurri
and a seared skirt steak. chimichurri is a reallypopular condiment in argentina and whenyou're traveling there, you'll pretty much seeit on every table, and what it's based onis parsley and garlic. from there, you can have fun with all the additionalingredients you add, but those are thebases of a chimichurri. so here i've gotabout a cup of parsley
that i'm just goingto rough chop... and then comes garlic. i'm gonna do about threesmaller cloves of garlic and also give thosea good mince. and now, we're gonna addhalf of a red bell pepper. [knife hitting cutting board] you can see that it'salready coming together as a really colorful dish. so next we have two romatomatoes, and for this,
i actually wanna take outthe seeds because i want most of the moisture to comefrom our red wine vinegar, our olive oil andthe peach juice. first, i'll just cutthese in half lengthwise and then take outthat juicy pulp. for the tomatoes,we'll also just give them a really small dice. now i'm gonna add alittle bit of oregano. you can actually get reallycreative here and add
any type of herb you havein the garden or on hand, and the moment youstart chopping it, its beautiful scentcomes out; that's really the advantageof using fresh herbs. and finally, we'll put halfof a small red onion in here, also small diced. now it's time to add ourstar ingredient: peaches. their peak season is sometimebetween june and august, and during that time you'llsee a variety of peaches.
you have white peachesand yellow peaches and within those two categoriesthere are more varieties. but today we're usingyellow peaches. they're tangier thanthe white peaches, and to really elevatethe sweetness today, we're going togrill the peaches before we put theminto the chimichurri. so let's start by preparingthem for the grill. i have two beautiful,yellow peaches
and the way i'vechosen them is by just firmly pressing themwith the palm of my hand, that's how youcheck for peaches. you don't wanna squeezethem with your fingertips, otherwise you canrisk bruising them and it's not reallya good indicator of whether or not they're ready. you also wanna make surethey don't have really any major scarsor existing bruising.
so, these peaches areabsolutely perfect... and i'm just going tostart by removing the pit. so i have myfour peach halves that i'm just going togo ahead and quarter, and now we'reready to grill 'em. so right now i'm usinga cast-iron skillet; i've got it lightly oiledand my peaches are sliced. and just before it starts tosmoke, you add the peaches. you want to grill them ata pretty high temperature,
and you want tohear that sizzle. we'll go ahead and grillthese a couple of minutes on each side untilthey're brown. [sizzling] alright, these havegrilled long enough. you can smell the sweetness, but you also have that greatsmoky flavor from the char. let them coola little bit... and add them toour chimichurri.
so all of ouringredients are in and all that's left to add isour seasonings, right? so we have ourred wine vinegar. i also wanna addred pepper flakes. now whenever you have a lotof sweetness in a dish, unless it's a dessert,you wanna cut that by adding a littlebit of spice, too. and of course salt,it should be well-seasoned, a little bit offresh ground black pepper,
and finally... olive oil. so our chimichurriis complete and now we're gonna setit aside and let it sit. let's get our steaks ready. the first thing we wanna dois pat it really dry, because the secret topreparing great, juicy skirt steak is to cookit really fast over high heat and if you have a lot ofmoisture trapped there, that's not gonna happen.
so once you haveone side patted... just go ahead and season itvery, very generously. so lots ofsalt and pepper... we've got one side and we'll do the same thingto the other side. now that we have it allseasoned, let's take it over to the stovetop andget this thing seared. skirt steak cooks reallyquickly, so i'm going to prepare this pan byputting it on very high heat.
and right before ithits that smoking point, that's when you addthe skirt steak. and i'm going to add justunder a tablespoon of butter and mix that with alittle bit of olive oil. now when we addthe skirt steak we should hear that sear,that sizzle. we'll let it cook on eachside for about two minutes. so we have a little bit ofthat caramelization here and it's curled up a little bit,
that's how you know thatthe skirt steak is ready. our steak has been restingfor a few minutes, which is really important because all of those juicesgo right back into the meat. so you can see here thatthe grain is going this way and we want to cutperpendicular to it, so that the meat just fallsapart when we plate it. so to do that,cut it into little strips and as we cut into it,you can see that
it's still a little mediumrare in the middle there ensuring that it'sstill really juicy. as you can see,the peaches, the tomatoes, they've really letout their juices and combined with that olive oiland red wine vinegar to create a beautiful condiment. so there you have it. this dish is a perfect way to show just how sweetand tangy peaches are,
while also showcasing theirversatility- bon appã©tit. >>water issues and waterquality are topics that come up whether you live inthe city or the country. and since manyparts of the u.s. have been facing droughtconditions in recent years, protecting water sources hasbecome even more important. that's prompted manyfarmers and ranchers to take a hard look at howthey can be better neighbors when it comes topollution and sustainably.
jason shoultz takes us toone farm in michigan that's joined a programto meet those goals. >>the dejong's michigandairy farm is growing. 10 years ago bas dejong andhis wife laura had 150 cows. >>present day todaywe're milking 1,800 cows. >>considerably larger thanthe average midwest dairy of a few hundred cows. a high-tech rotary milkerkeeps things moving here at hickory gables farm.
it's a necessity for anoperation of this size. like many farms these days, getting bigger is part ofthis family's plan for staying successful in theslim margin dairy industry. >>you know what? bigger wasnot really what i needed. i just wanted to takecare of my animals and, you know, one thingleads to the next and when you'rebursting at the seams you've got to makeprovisions so...
that's how we came- wearrived to 1,800 cows. it's a way of life. it is a lot of workand we have a motto, it's "ora labora","pray and work". i think that does get usthrough the day but it's also very rewarding. >>but increasing in size alsomeans larger concern among neighbors about some of theaspects of a dairy like his. and the biggest concern is
what comes out of the cowsafter they eat. >>well with a cow with manureyou can't plug them up and so it's an everyday deal andyou can't run away from it. you got to face it. >>and that means a giantlagoon filled with cow manure but lagoons like theseon other michigan farms have caused problemsin the past, overflowing during stormsand polluting waterways. bas is confident inthe design and safety
of his lagoon, butadmits the sheer scale of a farm this size canbe scary for neighbors. >>so is there a fearamong the public? yes, and rightfully sobecause of bad players. but there are too manygood players to downplay- to downplay it. >>a state program calledthe michigan agriculture environmental assuranceprogram, or maeap, is designed tohelp farming operations
like hickory gables meetenvironmental standards. things like making surebas has enough farm ground on which to spray manurefrom that lagoon and avoid the threat of runoff. >>to get to maeapverification it's a- it's a prettyrigorous process. we're gonna look underevery rock like we say. break from nutrientand pest management, to fuel storage,fertilizer storage,
y'know, the list goeson and on and on, all the things you mightlook at a farm and think of as a potential risk, weevaluate to a standard and- and work withgrowers to get them to that standard voluntarily. >>it's time consumingbecause you actually have to sit down and gothrough the paperwork. it can be- and it can be agood thing because you are learning and good thingsaren't always easy. and...
good things are educational. so i think themaeap program it's... it stretches you andit challenges you. >>the maeap programis voluntary and includes participationfrom various agriculture, government andconservation organizations. any agriculturalbusiness in the state can apply for certification. >>i've worked with farms thathave taken four years and
spent four million dollars. i've worked with farmsthat were already there. it depends on-on past practices. it depends on how thefacility was built. it depends on thetype of facility. the program is built forevery farm, every size, and every commodityin michigan. everybody has anopportunity to participate. it's really up to them.
>>one thousand michigan farmshave either been certified or are working tomeet maeap guidelines. the program points toreductions in soil erosion and phosphorous runoffas examples of ways that maeap isimproving water quality. >>people want to know... where you've been andwhere you're going and i think maeaptells a story. they give you a signand i'm posting my story
on the front,on the roadside. and i'm sharing with people that i want to beenvironmentally stewardly. >>but does maeapgo far enough? the michigan sierra club would like to seethe standards raised. others would like to see theprogram become mandatory for michigan farmersrather than voluntary. >>my belief, if you makesomebody do something,
they don't buy into thereasons why they're doing it. when i leave that farm they're probably notgonna do it anymore. when i leave amaeap-verified farm that's done these things because they want tofor the right reasons, those are the people we wantrepresenting this program. >>the reasons for bas andhis wife laura are evident: the next generation.
youngsters already learning to care for their calvesin the backyard. >>we're passing through so wegotta leave a legacy behind. so you're trying to be asteward of what you do have, so if you can pick upthe bags and go forward, rather thancleaning up a mess. >>have you checked out ouramerica's heartland website? find us online atamericasheartland.org there's a lot to choosefrom: hundreds of videos,
facts about farming, recipesand a whole lot more. and if you're intosocial media, you can connect to usthat way as well. thanks for travelingthe country with us. we'll see you next time onamerica's heartland. >>you can purchase a dvd orblu-ray copy of this program. here's the cost: to order, just visit usonline or call 888-814-3923 >>croplife america-representing the companies
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