Hi, I'm Rob Stewart.

Coming up on America's Heartland.

You may not realize it, but a lot of what's produced on farms in America is all about you.

Come along as we take a look at that country to consumer connection.

We'll take you to Wyoming where one farmer is hauling in a harvest of award winning wines.

You'll meet an American farmer discovering new ways to spice up your dinner menus.

Our Sharon Profis serves up salmon with a recipe you'll want to try.

And while we talk seafood, we'll head to North Carolina for a fish tale that ties the daily catch to consumer demands a long way from the ocean.

It's all coming up on America's Heartland.

>> America's Heartland is made possible by... >> Farm Credit- Helping rural America meet the needs of the growing nation since 1916.

For more information, visit FarmCredit.com >> CropLife America- Representing the companies whose modern farming innovations help America's farmers provide nutritious food for communities around the globe.

The Fund for Agriculture Education- A fund created by KVIE to support America's Heartland programming.

Contributors include the following.

♪You can see it in the eyes Of every woman and man♪ ♪In America's Heartland living close to the land♪ ♪There's a love for the country And a pride in the brand♪ ♪In America's Heartland♪ ♪Living close Close to the land♪ ♪♪♪ >> No one would argue that Americans have greater food choices today than ever before.

Not only in the variety of food products that make their way to market, but even in the options within particular food groups.

It's a change you'll notice just browsing the aisles of your favorite supermarket.

Step into the produce section of many stores and you'll find not only fruits and vegetables that come from traditional farm producers, but organic options that were unheard of a generation back.

Head over to the dairy department and the choices can be a bit overwhelming.

You'll find dozens of brands in picking just the right yogurt.

Add products that cater to those looking for low glycemic or gluten free choices and you begin to understand how consumer demand has changed the face of food production today.

Now, meeting those demands requires farmers and ranchers to tailor their production approaches.

But it's much more than crops and cattle.

Let's head for the Carolina coast where some fishermen keep an eye on the market while keeping an eye on production.

♪♪♪ Its early morning along North Carolina's Atlantic Coast, ♪♪♪ and this fishing boat is just back from its journey, miles out into the ocean.

Filled to the brim from its saltwater run, the catch includes fish like this 25 pound Grouper.

>> Beautiful fish here, excellent on the grill, can't beat it!

Fried, grilled, blackened, sautéed, however you want to do it, best fish in the ocean.

♪♪♪ >> More than 400 pounds of fish will be offloaded, and driven across town, a special delivery to a man around here who's famous for fishing.

>> My name is Jack Cox.

Crystal Coast Fisheries is our wholesale company and Blue Ocean Seafood Market is our retail.

>> Jack Cox is hooked on fishing.

He's been hauling in catches off the Carolina Coast since he was six years old.

He went off to college and then launched a construction career.

But the ocean called, and Jack took the bait to come back home- 30 years later.

>> With some form or fashion we're off loading seafood every day, that we have the fresh product coming in, and we are trying to keep a supply of it, you know, the restaurants are counting on us, we've built a business the consumer comes into fish market and we want to make sure that we have the- the product twelve months out of the year.

♪♪♪ >> Jack's Oceanside operation is a full scale fish house.

Fishing is big business here on the North Carolina coast.

Recreational fishing alone generated 2 billion dollars for the state in 2013.

But commercial fisheries are facing real challenges in their efforts to stay afloat.

>> It's not so much like it was ten years ago, fifteen years ago, the regulation have changes a lot so fisherman really, y'know, trying to survive now, now the industry has consolidated, it's a lot smaller, fisherman are- are- they're pretty much struggling trying to find places to offload their seafood, fish houses are closing up and down the coast, so it has changed quite a bit.

>> Jack Cox says that survival has been challenged by a variety of factors: Those include the nation's economic landscape as well as coastal real estate being impacted by residential expansion.

In addition, regulations have shortened harvest seasons for certain varieties to prevent overfishing.

>> What we have learned is the consumer's willing to pay whatever the price is to an extent, you know, to get a fresh local organic product it's a- it's an incredible expensive source of protein, it takes a lot to go out, harvest it and bring it in, the cost of fuel has changed the landscape a lot so our industry we've- we've probably got less than half of the fisherman that we had ten years ago.

>> Jack has now joined forces with the Seafood Harvesters of America.

It's an organization where fishermen from across the country are working with policy makers in Washington to help the fishing industry.

The group also gives consumers a voice at the table to keep fresh seafood abundant and available.

Your entire goal really is to promote North Carolina fishing.

>>Rob, that's right, what we do is we offload boats here and try to keep the fisherman in business and kinda keep the consumer getting the North Carolina seafood that we- that we off load here and just try to keep the stuff coming in year-round is the key to it.

>> One of the ways it's working can be found at "Blue Ocean Seafood Market," a retail store run by Jack and his business partner, David Tucker.

On this July day, the delivery board is packed with fish caught just off the Carolina Coast and sold to customers.

>> We catch a lot of product ourselves, we have boats we've bought off different boats, we've bought from different seafood houses around in the area, y'know, I was just on the phone with an oyster man that sells oysters for me.

So, told him to send me 48 gallons of oyster down here to sell this weekend and, you know, we're just always looking for, you know, all kinds of shell fish, shrimp, clams, we've got a good clam man in Harbors Island.

We've got soft-shell crabs that we get down east, and just all different kinds of seafood we just, you know, whatever the demand is, whatever people want, we try to find it.

>> It looks wonderful.

>> Locals make their seafood choices, after which it's filleted right on the spot.

Mary Ann Holland likes the convenience and connection to her local community.

>> I come in here regularly, and a lot of times I have seen people, or sometimes when I've seen people shopping for seafood in a grocery store, I'll tell them that they really ought to check out Blue Ocean.

>> Because of the freshness.

>> Because it's, its right from the ocean it's true, I mean, they- their boats come right over here, right off the boat, right off the boat.

>> It's that customer connection and the love of the fishing industry that keeps Jack Cox in the water and in the game for the long haul.

Jack says he'll be hitting the high seas no matter the storms the fishing industry endures.

Regardless of the challenges that you are facing here on the water, fishing still brings you joy.

>> You know something, I try to get out there at least a day a week, I love- I love fishing, I love scuba diving, I want to be out there with it, it's an incredible place, when you get out there on the ocean there's nothing but you and the boat and fish and birds, it's just- it's a really neat place to be and it just- it just kinda takes everything and puts in perspective, y'know, and you can kinda slow down, you don't have a computer, you don't have a cell phone, and it really relaxes me, I enjoy it.

>> I'd say you're hooked.

>> I would say I am as well.

>>[laughing] Thank you.

>> Yes sir.

♪♪♪ >> Let's give you a couple of things that set North Carolina apart.

The state's Cape Hatteras light house is the tallest in the United States.

And North Carolina claims the first gold rush in America.

That followed the discovery of a 17 pound gold nugget in the western portion of North Carolina in 1799.

>> Changing tastes and changing demographics can also affect consumer demand when it comes to food production.

Immigration patterns influence what shopkeepers have on their shelves.

And the growth of television cooking shows along with an explosion of specialized cookbooks has provided a chance for some people to push the envelope when it comes to spices.

That's great news for one farmer in Arizona.

Our Sarah Gardner says it's all about creating the perfect pepper.

♪♪♪ >> [Speaking Spanish] >> It's a warm afternoon in the arid desert landscape of Arizona.

But here on Ed Curry's farm, it's always "chile."

Ed spends a lot of time in what you might call "heated" conversation with his workers.

Together, they're carefully tending long rows of chile plants with a single goal in mind: creating the "perfect" pepper.

♪♪♪ >> It's a very tedious, slow process to breeding.

But it's also very, very rewarding, because it's our babies.

♪♪♪ >> Those "babies" include more than 200 acres of chile peppers of all kinds.

He's spent more than three decades carefully pollinating and cross-breeding peppers.

♪♪♪ Today, Ed's helping cover these plants with a fine mesh to make sure his careful pollination efforts aren't diluted by a random bee or butterfly.

The careful science and hard work seem to be paying off.

A significant portion all the chilies grown in the U.S. can trace their spicy roots back to Ed's farm.

>> I always kind of lean to making sure that we do things that give our growers really good yields where they can be profitable.

But ultimately it's all based around, are we giving a flavor?

>> We still do everything a little bit by hand in that we see the chile, we smell the chile, we taste the chile all the time.

>> That flavor is what appeals to Jeanie Neubauer.

She's the owner of Santa Cruz Chile and Spice Company.

It was started by her father seventy years ago.

As her business grew, she went looking for a place to build a bigger factory.

She says Ed had a "hot" idea.

Build the plant right in the middle of his chile field.

♪♪♪ Each year she uses more than a half-million pounds of just-picked peppers to make chile paste and other products.

♪♪♪ >> What people expect from Santa Cruz Chile Paste is a consistent flavor, a consistent color, and a consistent heat level.

And he's always been able to provide that for me.

>> Speaking of heat, Ed's happy to roast up some peppers and "fire up" a recipe.

In this case, cheese filled chile rellenos.

♪♪♪ And, maybe he'll show you the biggest green chile pepper on earth.

This bad boy weighs two-thirds of a pound.

Will you ever eat it?

>> No, it's a trophy.

[laughing] >> A certified Guinness World Record.

>> This is a Scotch bonnet or habanero.

This is a Thai pepper, very hot.

This is a Cascabella, some call 'em yellow hots.

This is a Fresno red jalapeno, hot, this is a serrano, this is ancho, and this is jalapeno.

>> Walk the fields with Ed, and you'll learn that it's not the chile seeds that create the heat, it's the oil inside the plant, called capsaicin.

>> So this oil, right here and we judge how hot a pepper is by how far down it goes.

>> Even after thirty years, Ed says this vast landscape and fertile soil continue to "fire" his imagination, and keep his enthusiasm running at a "fever" pitch.

>> It's been a real blessing to be involved in something that you could change an industry.

I feel like for the most part, we've been able to help our fellow man.

And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's about?

♪♪♪ >> You can add a couple more "c's" when it comes to Arizona agriculture.

In addition to producing lots of chile peppers, The Grand Canyon state is also a major producer of cotton and cattle.

And when the snow is flying up north, farmers around Yuma, Arizona are busy harvesting produce.

The area is known as the winter lettuce capital of America.

♪♪♪ >> You know we took a look at some seafood options on the Carolina coast earlier in the show.

If you had to pick your favorite seafood, what would it be?

Well, salmon, along with shrimp and tuna take the top three spots in popularity with American seafood consumers.

And our Sharon Profis says that one special recipe for salmon will give you a flavor option you may not have thought about.

♪♪♪ >> Salmon is one of my go-to weeknight dinners.

So, I'm always looking for ways to jazz it up.

Lately, I've been making a Basil Pesto Topped Salmon, and I love it because it comes together really quickly To get started we'll make a fresh pesto.

There's no reason to buy it at the store when you can make it yourself so easily.

But one of the greatest tips I ever received was that it's best to hand chop all of your ingredients.

When you run a pesto through a food processor, what you normally end up with is a paste, and that's not really what you want.

You want it to have a little bit more character than that.

So, we'll start with a whole bunch of fresh basil.

Salmon is one of my favorite dinners.

It's full of protein, vitamins, and minerals.

So, it really fills you up, but it's also one of the best sources of Omega 3 fatty acids, And those are really good for you.

So, go ahead and chop your basil until you get a really fine mince.

At this point I'm also gonna add a little bit of fresh flat leaf parsley.

These herbs go so well with salmon.

And now I want to add all of the other things that make a pesto so great.

We have garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and of course parmesan cheese.

So, you can add as much or as little garlic as you want, but two garlic cloves for a batch is usually perfect.

You want it to be in the background.

You don't want it to completely take over.

The hard part is over.

We have all of our garlic and herbs chopped.

And now let's add our lemon zest and juice.

Any time you add lemon to a sauce or a paste, what you're doing is brightening up the dish.

And not only that in this case the lemon juice will also help the pesto keep longer.

So, you can keep it in the refrigerator for about 3 to 4 days.

And you can use it on so many different ways.

Not just with salmon, you can top pasta with it.

It's great with roasted vegetables.

I love it as just an all-purpose condiment.

So, we'll do the zest of about half a lemon.

And we'll add just about half a tablespoon of lemon juice.

And now we'll add about a quarter cup of freshly grated parmesan reggiano.

And I like to add a little extra when I'm making the salmon dish, because as the cheese cooks, it gets a little brown and creates a little bit of a crust.

And then we'll add our nuts.

Now traditionally pine nuts go into pesto, but you can get creative and have fun with it.

In this case, I have ground almonds.

But I've made pesto with walnuts before.

Anything you have on hand will taste really good here.

I also just love the pairing of almonds and salmon together.

Now add a little freshly grated pepper and plenty of olive oil.

In this case I'll end up adding about a cup.

And you can just mix and check for consistency as you go.

It's really not a science.

Pesto is all about how you like it, that's why I love it so much.

Now because the parmesan is so salty, I'm not gonna add any additional salt.

So, at this point we're done, and we're ready to top our salmon.

I have here four 6 ounce salmon fillets.

Now you can buy salmon steaks which are great for grilling or you can buy a whole salmon.

But I love fillets because they cook really quickly, and they've got a nice rich flavor.

Now when you're picking out your salmon fillets, the most important thing to look out for is that they're fresh.

And the way you can test for freshness is by the way they smell.

So, if they smell like fish, they're probably not fresh.

But if they smell like the ocean, they're perfect.

And once you bring them home, you want to cook them within one to two days.

They're best really fresh right from the market.

So, before we top them with the basil pesto.

I'm just gonna give them a dab to dry off the flesh.

This will help the pesto really adhere to the fish.

And then it's really simple.

Just go ahead and spoon the pesto right over the fillets.

This is such a beautiful dish.

And it's a real crowd pleaser, too.

You can cook up a whole bunch of these and serve a large dinner party.

When you're cooking salmon, here's a little rule of thumb: cook it for ten minutes for every inch of thickness.

And you'll know it's ready when the flesh flakes easily with the fork.

Now I'll put these under a low broiler for about 7 to 10 minutes until the fish is completely cooked through and that top is a little browned and crispy.

♪♪♪ This dish came together so quickly.

That's why I love making it on week nights.

And it goes great with pasta, or in this case I have roasted potatoes.

We'll just plate it with our potatoes and to really brighten up the dish, I love topping it with cherry tomatoes.

Just right on top.

With all the nutrition that salmon has to offer, this makes for a great light and healthy dish.

Now what's left to do is eat.

♪♪♪ >> The ability of American farmers and ranchers to tailor their production to meet changing tastes and demands says a lot about the entrepreneurial spirit that you'll find in the heartland.

Introducing new varieties of existing crops or using cropland to try something completely different.

Our Kristen Simoes says that's part of the story for one Wyoming farmer who saw fine wine in his future.

♪♪♪ >> Harvesting wheat on a sunny July day is just what you might expect to see in the rolling hills of Eastern Wyoming.

But look again and you'll find another crop that's not, perhaps, typical in this wheat, barley and corn growing region - wine grapes!

>> Definitely at the very beginning people thought we were a little nuts if you will.

>> Patrick Zimmerer is one of a growing number of vintners expanding America's wine growing and bottling options.

Since 2001, Patrick's been growing grapes and operating Table Mountain Vineyards northeast of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

It's part of the country that can get up to three feet of snow each winter.

>> Compared to grapes being grown in California, Europe, or some of the traditional areas, it is definitely a challenge because our grapes face extreme cold we're anywhere from 15 to 30 below zero at any given time.

>> The vines grown here are hybrids designed to withstand harsh weather conditions.

One variety is known as "Valiant."

>> The Valiant is actually one of the very first hybrid grapes developed in South Dakota.

And they believe it can tolerate like 55 to 60 below zero.

>> Patrick's family has a long history in agriculture.

The vineyard came as a result of continuing efforts to diversify what the land was able to produce.

>> The farm itself has been very diversified since the time it's been a sheep feeding operation, a cattle feed lot operation, we've grown hay, sugar beets.

>> The idea to grow grapes actually began as a thesis paper in college.

It was an interesting farming idea to his grandmother.

>> You know, with your grand-children, and even your own children, you just whatever they want to do, you want to help them get ahead, so I was very excited.

>> Cheers.

>> Cheers.

>> The first harvest in 2004 yielded grapes from half an acre.

Today they've grown to 11 thousand vines on just about a dozen acres.

Much of the marketing target has been on wines that are fruit based.

>> We produce a honey wine, some raspberry wine, strawberry wine.

And when we first started, we were very small.

I think our first harvest was about 400 pounds of grapes.

We've made anything from apple, pear, peach, anything that's grown in Wyoming that's a fruit that we can turn into wine we've experimented or tried throughout the years.

>> The fermenting process is done in polyurethane barrels rather than the typical oak casks.

Patrick says this allows the fruit to more adequately ferment with the wine grapes.

>> The yeast is converting the sugar into alcohol.

We have about 75 pounds of cherries per barrel here.

And it's all fermenting away.

And in about two weeks it'll be cherry wine.

>> The winery's products have already been recognized with a number of awards.

>> We've got wine going to Gillette, and Cheyenne, and Casper, and I think that's it for now.

>> The marketing at Table Mountain has definitely become a family affair with the bottled products shipped to stores and restaurants across the region.

>> About two buds down from the- from the bunch of grapes you just prune off that excess.

>> The success at Table Mountain has also inspired others in the region to try their hand at wine making.

One is the smaller start-up known as LaGrange Vineyards.

>> We tried several different varieties.

Some were successful, some were not.

Anyway, I have an acre and a half of grapes here, which is a thousand plants.

And they're giving me between 7 and a half and 8 tons of grapes a year, which I sell to the winery, to Patrick at the winery.

>> Patrick says he's gratified by the success that the vineyard has enjoyed so far, all from a college paper that turned into a career.

>> I do think it's a success story for any agriculturalist to be able to start something, carry it through, and be able to promote the industry, and hopefully start a new industry for other growers as well.

♪♪♪ >> Hey, if you like a glass of wine with dinner, you're not alone- wine consumption in the U.S. jumped 18 percent between 2005 and 2013.

Before we go, remember that you'll find videos and lots more on our America's Heartland website.

That's AmericasHeartland.org And be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter and your other favorite social media sites.

Thanks for traveling the country with us.

We'll see you next time on America's Heartland.

♪You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man♪ ♪In America's Heartland living close to the land♪ ♪There's a love for the country And a pride in the brand♪ ♪In America's Heartland♪ ♪Living close Close to the land♪ >> America's Heartland is made possible by... >> Farm Credit- Helping rural America meet the needs of a growing nation since 1916.

For more information, visit FarmCredit.com >> CropLife America- Representing the companies whose modern farming innovations help America's farmers provide nutritious food for communities around the globe.

The Fund for Agriculture Education- A fund created by KVIE to support America's Heartland programming.

Contributors include the following: