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AgPhD
AgPhD has been on the air for almost six years now, but the story began a long time before that. My name is Brian Hefty, and I host AgPhD with my brother Darren each week. In addition to our farm operation, our family also owns a business called Hefty Seed Company. Hefty Seed is one of the largest seed and ag-chemical retailers in the Midwest with stores in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. If you farm, you’ve undoubtedly been to a meeting held by your local ag-chemical retailer. Chances are the meeting consisted of a good meal, a few drinks and a rep from a pesticide manufacturer telling you how great his product was. We used to do this, too, until about 10 years ago. One night, after a small meeting involving a chemical rep and a few farmers, it finally hit us…we had a three-hour meeting and got nothing that we could use to truly help us in our farm operation. So that winter, we did something we had never done: held our first Crop Production Workshop. It went from 9 am to 4 pm, with a noon meal, no drinks, and no chemical reps…just Darren, our father Ron, and me. We put together a 40-page book with helpful reference guides and a lot of information about how to raise better crops. We covered much of what was in the book and answered questions. The other thing we did that we hadn’t done before was to not talk about our company. We simply talked about what we did on our farm and what worked well for other farmers in the area. To this day, we continue to follow the strategy that we set forth in that first workshop: provide unbiased information on the things farmers need to help them produce better and more profitable crops. The response to this “new” type of workshop went over so well, that we continued to do more and more each year, but there was still so much information we wanted to share, and so many farmers who wanted to learn more. That’s when another idea hit us. One day, a local ag television show asked us to advertise on their show. We turned them down, but right after the meeting, my Dad said the words that led us to where we are today: “We could do a TV show.” Now, my Dad has been a farmer all his life, and hearing those words come out of his mouth were pretty surprising. Fortunately, we started getting some information about how we could do the show and just as importantly, who would air it. After those questions were answered, we played with the format for a while, but we eventually settled on the things you still see today on AgPhD. The last segment (and the most popular segment) of every show is the “Weed of the Week.” During the “Weed of the Week” segment, we’ll show you how to identify and control a weed that you may have on your farm. Another segment on each and every show is called “Farm Basics.” After a short time on the air, we realized that many non-farmers were watching the program (or at least the first few minutes of it). Since we live just outside the largest city in South Dakota, it has always disturbed us that people living 10 miles away know absolutely nothing about agriculture. Unfortunately, many city people believe that farmers are uneducated, backwards, harmful to the environment, and that we only work in the spring and fall. Not only that, but many non-farmers feel that farming is simple and anyone can do it well. Since less than 1% of the population farms, these problems will continue to grow unless we as farmers educate those who do not farm. That’s why we do “Farm Basics.” The first few minutes of every show features a common farming practice, put in language the non-farmer can understand. The result: the most frequent comment I hear from non-farmers about AgPhD is, “I had no idea farmers had to know that much stuff. I could understand the first part of your show, but the rest of it was way over my head.” Believe it or not, I hear this comment day after day. So we hope we’re helping to educate people about the value and importance of the American farmer. My brother Darren and I host AgPhD each week on RFD-TV. We still farm about 2,500 acres, and just like you, we’re constantly in the hunt for more grain and more profit. It’s out here; we just need to learn how to achieve our goals. Hopefully, AgPhD can help you achieve yours. We appreciate the great people at RFD-TV for airing our program each week and thank all our viewers for their support. Contact: Ag PhD 47504 252nd Street Baltic, SD 57003 (605) 529-5413 info@agphd.com www.agphd.com
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