''America's Heartland'' is a television program in the United States airing on

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

since 2005. Produced by

KVIE KVIE (channel 6) is a PBS member television station in Sacramento, California, United States. The station is owned by KVIE, Inc., a community-based non-profit organization. KVIE's studios are located on West El Camino Avenue in the Natomas dist ...

Sacramento, ''America's Heartland'' reporters and crews have brought in stories from all across the United States as well as faraway places like

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, China,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

. The program features profiles of farming and ranching families and explores trends in food production from

farm-to-table Farm-to-table (or farm-to-fork, and in some cases farm-to-school) is a social movement which promotes serving local food at restaurants and school cafeterias, preferably through direct acquisition from the producer (which might be a winery, brewe ...

. ''America's Heartland'' also features a "Farm to Fork" segment hosted by well-known CNET personality and blogger Sharon Profis. Profis joins farmers in their own kitchens, preparing recipes with ingredients grown on that farm. Other recurring segments include "Harvesting Knowledge", highlighting the history of familiar

food production The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

, "Off the Shelf" featuring information about items found right in the

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, ...

, and "Agriculture 101", where agriculture experts answer questions posed by consumers. The program has featured several "themed" episodes. In 2008, Jason Shoultz explored overseas

grain trade The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike othe ...

in China and Taiwan in a special entitled "Journey of the Corn." In 2009, the program took viewers to Egypt and Morocco to explore overseas programs designed to grow export markets for corn and wheat. Themed episodes include "Dawn to Dusk," following a

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

farming family throughout a busy day, "The Miracle Bean," exploring the many uses of soybeans grown in the U.S., "Cowboy Cattle Drive" taking viewers on a three-day cattle drive in the Utah mountains. The program has also featured state-themed shows in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Sponsors are the United Soybean Board, Farm Credit, and the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. In 2011, the "Fund for Agriculture Education" was created, providing businesses and organizations an opportunity to contribute to show production funding. The series is a national evolution of ''California Heartland'', which covered California agriculture and aired for nine seasons on KVIE. The show airs weekly on public television stations across the US, on the cable/satellite channel

RFD-TV RFD-TV is an American pay television channel owned by Rural Media Group, Inc. The channel features programming devoted to rural issues, concerns and interests. The channel's name is a reference to Rural Free Delivery, the name for the United St ...

, and on commercial television stations (including the World Harvest Television,

NewsNet NewsNet (stylized as NEWSnet) is an American news-oriented free-to-air television network and newscast production company owned by Bridge News, LLC, which itself is owned by Bridge Media Networks. The network is structured to broadcast a tight ...

The Country Network The Country Network is an American cable, streaming and broadcast television network that specializes in broadcasting country music videos and exclusive original music-based content; its playlist of videos extends from the 1990s through the pres ...

, Heartland,

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

and TBD subchannel networks) to meet educational children's programming requirements. Shows and segments can also be viewed on the program's website and the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

channel. ''America's Heartland'' also maintains a strong social media presence on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. The show's theme song "Close to the Land" was written by

Michael Martin Murphey Michael Martin Murphey (born March 14, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including ''Cowboy Songs' ...

and

Rob Quist Robert Ernest Quist (born January 5, 1948) is an American singer, instrumentalist (playing guitar and banjo), songwriter, and politician. Originally a founding member of the Mission Mountain Wood Band, his songs have also been recorded by artists ...

and performed by Michael Martin Murphey. Current Hosts: * Jason Shoultz * Rob Stewart * Sarah Gardner * Paul Robbins * Sharon Vaknin Former Hosts: * Paul Ryan * Pat McConahay * Yolanda Vazquez * Jon Lobertini * Amy Henry * Dave Lieberman * Akiba Howard * Kristen Simoes

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0802425
America's Heartland Website
2005 American television series debuts 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows 2020s American television news shows PBS original programming RFD-TV original programming