Our crews travel across the country to find interesting people and stories about American agriculture. From Florida grapefruit to soybeans in Iowa, America's Heartland covers it all. I've even traveled overseas to North Africa and China to explore international grain trade. But sometimes great stories are just down the road a few miles!
America's Heartland is produced by KVIE Public Television in Sacramento and we're quite familiar with the rich agriculture in our area. The nationally-broadcast program actually grew out of our successful California Heartland series that highlighted California agriculture. So I knew there was a great story to tell about the wildlife that call this area home and the habitat they find in rice fields.
With the help of Jim Morris and the California Rice Commission I set out to capture some of that beauty. Television is a visual medium so we needed to get up in the air to shoot from above. Rice farmer Harry Fredericks from Woodland helped us with that task. He piloted his helicopter over rice fields in the Sacramento Valley and the Yolo Causeway. The images were amazing. We saw birds, ducks and even deer!
We also worked with California's Central Valley Bird Club, visiting Mike DeWit's rice farm north of Sacramento. The sun was setting and the Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets were on full display. It was a picture-perfect scene. Here’s a shot of Martin Christian and Tyler Bastine in the field during the shoot.
I know our viewers are going to enjoy this story. It's the story of the commitment to wildlife that rice farmers have through their management practices. Our viewers want to know what farmers and ranchers are doing to protect the environment and live in harmony with their neighbors.
The segment will be a part of episode 819, which airs on KVIE January 23rd at 7:30pm. It will also be online at americasheartland.org and on our YouTube page.
Jason Shoultz is a Producer/Reporter with the PBS television program America’s Heartland. Follow him on Twitter at: @jasonshoultz. Be sure to watch their upcoming feature story on California rice and sake, debuting Wednesday, February 1. For more information on the show, follow them on Twitter at: @aheartland or on the Internet at: www.americasheartland.org.
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