America’s Heartland, the award-winning national television series celebrating American agriculture, begins its seventh season on RFD-TV starting the week of September 5, 2011.  America’s Heartland also welcomes two new production funders as well as the return of a legacy sponsor: Farm Credit and the United Soybean Board are joining the American Farm Bureau Federation as supporters of the only national program educating consumers about the origins of their food, fuel and fiber.  AFBF has supported the series since its launch in 2005; this year, their sponsorship aligns with their renewed education outreach efforts through the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.

“Consumers today take greater interest in where their food is coming as well as issues that touch on agricultural sustainability, environmental concerns and animal welfare,” said Michael Sanford, Vice-President of Content Creation at KVIE Public Television in Sacramento, which produces the series.  “We’re extremely grateful that Farm Credit, AFBF and USB are providing the essential support needed to help us share agriculture’s positive and pro-active efforts with non-farm viewers.”

  The first of 22 half-hour episodes of America’s Heartland’s seventh season begins airing the week of September 5.  RFD-TV viewers will see episode 701 on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 8:00pm EST and again on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 8:30pm PST.

Season seven will take viewers all across the heartland to meet the people who play a critical role in the well-being of all our lives.  In addition to long form stories on farm families and production agriculture, America’s Heartland serves up special consumer segments like Farm to Fork, Fast Facts about Food, Off the Shelf, and Harvesting Knowledge.  

Farm to Fork takes nationally-known chef Dave Lieberman into the heartland for cooking ideas that viewers can use at home. Fast Facts about Food delivers detailed information about nutrition.  And new for season seven, Ask a Farmer gives viewers a chance to ask questions that touch on many aspects of agriculture today.  

The www.americasheartland.org website also gives consumers easy connections to topics, educational resources, search functions and video offerings. To give viewers immediate access to stories and special segments, America’s Heartland has expanded its social networking outreach with updated features and information on Facebook and Twitter.  Video plays an increasingly important role on the America’s Heartland YouTube Channel, currently welcoming more than 90 thousand visitors each month.  

America’s Heartland receives in-kind production support from many prominent agriculture organizations, including the National Corn Growers Association, U.S. Grains Council, American Soybean Association, FFA, National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National Cotton Council of America.

America’s Heartland is still seeking additional funding support for season 7.  For more information, and to learn more about the series, contact Michael Sanford at (916) 641-3546 or msanford@kvie.org, or Series Producer Jim Finnerty at (916) 641-3516 or jfinnerty@kvie.org.