The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • D5

9 V1N39VIAI )IOVia 90CI.90 9 31V1S 3383VS 0 Monday, June 1 3, 2005 The Sacramento Bee KVIE KVIE videographer Aimee McKinney, left, tapes John Boelts of Coronation Peaks Ranches and KVIE senior reporter Pat McConahay in Yuma, in February for "America's Heartland," to begin airing in September. Heartland: Show wants cities to see family farms hard at work of grower outreach Julie Doane said, "We obviously watched tons of shows before we elevated this internally. She called the company's eventual sponsorship a "natural fit." "It's a great opportunity for all of us to get reacquainted with where our food comes from, the clothes we wear, the roofs over our heads and now even the fuel in our gas tanks, with ethanol," Doane said. As KVIE officials wrestle with selecting a host and a permanent reporting team, they don't know how many U.S. stations will carry the show.

"Public television is not an Indianapolis 500 start," said director of program marketing Jim O'Donnell. "This will premiere and will probably take literally months to start on all the stations." The Bee's Jim Wasserman can be reached at (916) 321-1102or jwasserman sacbee. com. small family farms earning less than $250,000 a year still dominate the U.S. landscape.

But 68 percent of agricultural production now comes from the 8 percent of farms classified as "large and very large family farms" and corporate farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Though the station retains rights to select its stories, it consults with a national advisory board that includes groups like the National Corn Growers Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Association and International Food Information Council, a Washington industry group that promotes genetically modified crops along with food safety and nutrition research. Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman of Modesto has also helped introduce the new national show by talking up "a tremendous amount of viewers" for the California version.

At Monsanto U.S. director Tax deductible. No DMV hassle. spacious two-room suites complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast nightly manager's reception1 FROM PAGE Dl "It takes seven figures to produce a show like this," said Jan Tilmon, KVIE vice president for content and a creator of "California Heartland. Don Upton, spokesman for the Washington-based Farm Bureau, said: "We're after an urban audience and it's very hard to reach that audience with a traditional media.

Public TV has a very respected brand and a very respected audience. That's one ag groups would be struggling to reach." With less than 2 percent of the nation's population earning a living from farm jobs and no national TV series consistently telling farmers' and ranchers' stories, agricultural officials have long been in search of programming that reaches a broader audience. "The sector as a whole feels undercovered and not adequately represented in today's media," Upton said. Already, KVIE video crews and longtime "California Heartland" reporter Pat McConahay have been to 10 states, chronicling winter's maple syrup harvest in Vermont, reporting on shrimping along the Gulf Coast and profiling Maker's Mark, a small Kentucky -based bourbon distillery. Other first-season stories completed or in the works include a Mitchell, S.D., tourist attraction, the Corn Palace with its murals made of grain, and a revival of the Texas sugar cane industry for cancer research.

Another Texas segment profiles a family growing aloe vera, symbolizing Texas' status as the nation's leading aloe producer. Such choices reflect the series' traditional gravitation toward the lifestyles of family operations and stories of "people with sweat on their brows and calluses on their hands. "There really is a tradition of myth of farmers as embodying all the traits we like as a nation: perseverance, hard work and entrepreneurship," said the show's executive producer, Mike Sanford. Federal statistics indicate that We couldn't think of one good reason for business travelers to stay at Embassy Suites Hotels. Instead, we thought of plenty.

Need we say more? The call is free! And so is the pick-up! American Red Cross Sacramento Sierra Chapter 1 -866-773-3276 916-773-9490 or 800-210-3638 Placer Guaranteed Security, Inc. California Lake Tahoe San Francisco Area (8 locations) Sacramento Oregon Portland Area (3 locations) Washington Seattle Area (3 locations) Position Yourself in a Safe Environment" 114 N. Sunrise, Suite C3 Roseville, California 95661 www.placerguaranteedsecurity.com Ml BPS 'lj For more information on all of our locations, visit embassysuites.com 26 02 EMBASSY SUITES HOTELS TheHiltonFamily Hilton HHonors- tSubject to state and local laws. Must be of legal drinking age. Hilton HHonors membership, earning of Points Milesf and redemption of points are subject to HHonors Terms and Conditions.

2005 Hilton Hospitality, Inc. OUTPUT: 061205 18:36 USER: ABUCHMANN BEEBR0AD MASTER 06.