The latest segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is “Exotic Greens,” a story about Asian produce farmers in the Central Valley.

http://deltafarmpress.com/ram-super-bowl-ad-raised-1-million-ffa-less-week

The Ram Truck brand pledged to make a donation to the National FFA Organization for every view of its two-minute “Farmer” Super Bowl video on the brand’s website, with the intent of generating $1 million.

It took less than a week to reach the 10 million view milestone equating to the $1 million donation. As of Feb. 14, the “Farmer” video had been viewed more than 18 million times at www.ramtrucks.com/keepplowing and www.youtube.com/ramtrucks and millions of more times on other sites.

“The compelling images in the video of America’s heartland mated with Harvey’s ‘So God Made a Farmer’ words resonated with viewers nationwide,” said Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer, Chrysler Group LLC. “We set out to create a call-to-action to support farmers and to recognize their place as the foundation of the American character and are gratified with the dialog the video sparked.”

“‘Farmer’ is about having America appreciate everything that farmers and farm families do on a daily basis and captures the hard work, determination and character of the farmer in all of us,” said Fred Diaz, president and CEO – Ram Truck Brand and Chrysler de Mexico. “We are so pleased and excited that this has touched the hearts and souls of so many people in a positive way.”

The video also launched the Ram Truck brand’s 2013 “The Year of the Farmer” campaign aimed at bringing national attention to the significance of the American farmer. The brand enhances its long-standing partnership with the National FFA Organization (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) with this year-long, multi-tiered initiative.

Together with agricultural equipment manufacturer Case IH, Farms.com and other brand partners, Ram set out to raise awareness and generate funds for FFA hunger relief efforts in local communities across America.

“Ram scored a major win for American agriculture and our producers and ranchers with its ‘Farmer’ Super Bowl commercial and has sharply elevated the image of agriculture in the public’s mind,” said National FFA Organization CEO Dr. Dwight Armstrong.

“This highly successful partnership with Ram through the National FFA Foundation has generated $1 million of new support for FFA that will be utilized to drive our ‘Feeding the World-Starting at Home’ initiative and other programs that will benefit our nearly 560,000 FFA members in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”

The “Farmer” video was inspired by the stirring “So God Made a Farmer” tribute delivered by legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey and used as a national anthem in grassroots videos created by farm families. To honor American farmers, the Ram Truck brand set out to create even greater awareness, support and appreciation for farming families, communities and providers.

The brand commissioned 10 noted photographers to document American farm life, yielding a beautiful and comprehensive catalog of farming images. Many of these artful and compelling still images provide the visual mosaic for the video; Harvey’s passionate oration provides the narration.

The photographers shot images throughout the United States over the course of 25 days with 35 still photographs used in the video.

Many more of the commissioned images will appear in a book the Ram Truck brand plans to publish later this year, creating a beautiful and comprehensive collection of original agriculture, farming and family farm photography.

The book will provide a broad view of the agricultural community and lifestyle. Ram will contribute a portion of book proceeds to agriculture and hunger related efforts across the country.

Additional details and timing for the book are still being finalized.

CDFA secretary Karen Ross, seated far left, congratulates Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo president Jeffrey Armstrong at the signing of a partnership agreement with California Strawberry Commission president Victor Ramirez, seated second from right. Seated at the far right is is Cal-EPA secretary Matt Rodriquez.

Yesterday (February 19) at the State Capitol, CDFA secretary Karen Ross joined the California Strawberry Commission and other agricultural organizations, representatives of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and members of the state legislature for the signing of an agreement to create the Strawberry Sustainability Research and Education Center at Cal Poly.

The center is a first-of-its-kind concept that will focus on applied research to keep strawberry farming viable in California and also provide Cal Poly faculty and students with ongoing instructional opportunities.

The next segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is “Farm to Family,” a story about farmers working with food banks to help feed the needy.

The next segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is “Lemon Appeal,” the story of Limoneira, a Ventura County citrus producer.

I am very, very pleased to introduce the “Growing California” video series, a partnership with California Grown, which is hosting the series on its web site.

“Growing California” is an in-depth look at the many ways farming and ranching touches our lives. It goes well beyond food production, although that is certainly featured prominently. This series will also highlight food access, the diversity of California agriculture, and protection against invasive species. We will bring you the personal stories of our farmers and ranchers, profile their relationships with the environment, and examine the many innovations they have brought to their operations.

California is known around the world as the gold standard for high quality, safely produced food products. This video series will show you why. The first segment is a look at a young farmer making his way with a growing operation serving a number of Northern California restaurants. Toby Hastings’ story, “Free Spirit Farmer,”  is an excellent example of innovation to meet demand and, as a young farmer, he meets a need we all have – new blood in agriculture. I hope you enjoy this video and I invite you to go on to view each segment as it is released.

“Growing California” will show our state hard at work as it embraces the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. It will also remind us how we got here. It’s an extraordinary story.