America’s Heartland – Now in three Florida markets

America’s Heartland, a nationally broadcast weekly television program that showcases the nation’s agriculture industry, now can be seen in three Florida markets – Tampa, Miami and Orlando.

The fifth season of the show, and the first to be aired in Florida, offers a new, faster-paced format and additional reporters and features. It can be seen in the Tampa area on WEDU, Sundays at 10:30 a.m.; in Miami on WPBT, Sundays at 11 a.m.; and in Orlando on WMFE, also Sundays at 12:30 p.m.

FFVA and Florida Farm Bureau were among those organizations in the Florida Agriculture Task Force, which worked to make the Florida airings a reality. “The America’s Heartland team at  KVIE in Sacramento is thrilled to be able to add these stations to their affiliate list, and wanted me to express their appreciation to every association and individual on the task force who has helped to make this possible,” said Rod Hemphill of Florida Farm Bureau. “They are holding up our effort here in Florida as an example for ag communities in other states to follow.”

America’s Heartland is also broadcast four times weekly on RFD-TV, the 24-hour TV network dedicated to American rural life.  Click here to access the schedule. 

“We are absolutely delighted to add Orlando and Tampa to our list of top 25 U.S. television markets showing America’s Heartland on PBS,” said Michael Sanford, vice president of content creation of KVIE Public Television/America’s Heartland. “We’re very grateful to the Future of Florida Agricultural Task Force for their local underwriting support, which helped us secure and improve carriage in these key markets,” Sanford said.

The magazine-style show travels to a variety of farming and ranching locations in the United States and abroad to showcase the diversity of agriculture, its challenges and its far-reaching implications around the globe. Florida producers featured on previous seasons include Clewiston-area vegetable and herb grower Chuck Obern and Brant Schirard, who grows citrus in the Fort Pierce area.

“Agriculture is a major part of Florida’s economy, and it’s important that America’s Heartland tells the positive stories of Florida farmers, ranchers and those engaged in aquaculture,” said Sanford. “It’s especially gratifying to share those stories with both our rural audience on RFD-TV, and the well-informed and highly engaged non-farm audience on PBS.”  

AN EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS STORY

In the spring of 2009, a survey by TRAC Media Services showed that TV viewers who watched America’s Heartland had developed more favorable views of agriculture than they had before they watched the show. Testers used a random phone survey as well as an online split-sample test among public television viewer members. Both groups were given DVDs of the program. The phone survey respondents showed an increase in favorability towards agriculture from 48 percent to 63 percent. Favorable attitudes among online respondents increased from 42 percent to 69 percent. Significantly, testers found that attitudes improved dramatically even among those who considered themselves agricultural skeptics.

Additionally, results from an ongoing Zoomerang survey show very positive figures for America’s Heartland, its sponsors and American agriculture in general.

Learn more about America’s Heartland and  catch up on previous seasons online.  

America’s Heartland also has dramatically expanded its social networking outreach with Facebook, Twitter, and an extensive channel of exclusive video offerings on YouTube. One recent story was viewed more than one million times.

America’s Heartland is produced by KVIE Public Television with support from The Monsanto Company and the American Farm Bureau Federation.