America's Heartland - Episode 220

Episode 220
	Jason Shoultz travels to Alabama to visit three successful poultry growers. Then host Paul Ryan visits one of the largest egg producers in the nation. Pat McConahay learns that Wisconsin is a major player in the production of cranberries. A trip to California reveals how almonds play a major role in that state’s agricultural economy. In Washington, we discover a family raising more than 350 varieties of Dahlias.

A Passion for Poultry
It’s pretty difficult for the men and women of America’s poultry industry not to think big. Americans consume, on average, 60 pounds of chicken each year. Poultry producers must process and ship close to 8.5 million birds each year to meet that demand, and to fill overseas orders as well.

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Sell 'Em or Smell 'Em
What comes after the chicken? Answer: the egg at least in our story. As a commodity, they’re every bit as big as poultry. Heartland hens lay close to 70-billion eggs for market every year. To keep up with demand, Clint Hickman keeps his birds busy.

In the Red
It’s the little red berry we associate with holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. It so happens the festive cranberry is one of only a handful of fruits native to North America. Once upon a time, the bogs of Massachusetts’ coastal areas were the prime source of the tart little berries. Today, the state of Wisconsin wears the cranberry crown.

The Almond Experience
An old adage for puzzled innovators suggests: “shake the tree see what falls out.” On a September morning in California’s central valley near the town of Salida, it’s working like a charm. A tractor-like machine with massive hydraulic jaws is shaking a tree deep inside an almond grove, and the ripe almonds are falling like rain.

The Blossoming Business
What started out as a hobby for Nick and Margaret Gitts has “blossomed” into a successful family business in Oregon’s scenic Willamette valley. 40 years ago they gave up dairy farming to begin growing this dazzling display of dahlias. Today, they run the Heartland’s largest dahlia farm.

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The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, Farm Credit, and the United Soybean Board make presentation of America's Heartland possible.

Additional production and promotion assistance is provided by
The American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, U.S. Grains Council,
National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National FFA Organization.