If you’re a person who’s spending more time thinking about the connections between health, the environment, and your food sources, you’re not alone. And if you’re buying local food more often, you may have joined a growing number of consumers exploring the benefits of local agriculture and farm products.

A unique new television program called “From Farm to Table” is helping consumers learn more about agriculture in New York’s Capital Region. The program is a collaborative effort between Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), WMHT Public Television, and local farmers.

The series, comprised of thirteen episodes, seeks to educate consumers not only about eating more healthful but also about food sources. Each episode includes a segment introducing audiences to local agriculture, namely farmers and farm products.
 
Airing twice weekly on WMHT, a public television station in Troy, New York, “From Farm to Table” encourages viewers to discover and enjoy the culinary bounty of the area, from farmers’ fields to the family dinner table. The program builds on the strength of CCE’s relationships with local farmers and access to research-based nutrition knowledge and WMHT’s ability to develop a high-quality local production that will provide audiences with an insider’s view of local farms and farmers’ markets and introduce them to the people who grow the food we enjoy.

The idea for the show emerged from a meeting in the fall of 2006 between CCE and WMHT staff. The goal was to create a vehicle to promote local foods, feature nutritious recipes that are affordable and easy to prepare, and support the region’s farmers. After agreeing on the concept, work began in earnest to develop a sample episode, audition potential hosts, identify sponsors, assemble a writing team, and sort through countless recipes.

Each episode features visits with local agricultural producers or markets and then returns to the kitchen with Kim Sopczyk, an Eat Smart New York! nutrition educator from Warren County. In the studio, Sopczyk shows viewers how to prepare healthy and simple meals that feature seasonally available New York farm products. Sopczyk also provides nutritional analysis, cooking tips, and strategies for involving children in meal preparation (in every episode, she and a young guest helper prepare meals together). Viewers learn about everything from cooking with gadgets and the microwave to whole grains, harvest vegetables, and home garden produce. 

“Grilling Year Round,” set to air on December 4, will teach viewers about the benefits of pasture-raised meats and include a visit to Sap Bush Hollow Farm in Schoharie County. “Home Garden Produce” is scheduled to air December 11 with Albany County Master Gardener Cathie Gifford, and will demonstrate how easy it is to grow tomatoes in containers. “The Other Sugars: Maple and Honey” will broadcast on December 17 and include a visit to Valley Road Maple Farm in Thurman, New York.

The first episode of the New Year, “One Dish Wonders,” airing January 1, features a visit with CCE Vegetable Specialist John Mishanec, who will talk about potatoes. That episode will also include footage shot at Staron’s Farm in Columbia County. “Delicious Dairy Delights,” the last episode of season one, will air on January 8. It will feature milk production at the Battenkill Valley Creamery, a local family dairy farm located in Salem, New York.

After several decades of erosion in our food culture—exemplified by the loss of basic cooking skills and a subsequent increase in fast food, convenience food, and eating on the go—and parallel rise in its corollary, ever increasing obesity rates, local communities are experiencing a reawakening of all things culinary and agricultural. As consumers increasingly recognize the link between the food we bring into the family kitchen and onto the dinner table and our health and wellbeing, programs like “From Farm to Table” can play a vital role in helping communities support a vibrant and sustainable agricultural economy in New York State.

 “From Farm to Table” airs twice weekly on WMHT—Thursday at 7:30 pm and Saturday at 2:30 pm. Outside the WMHT viewing area, viewers can watch the show online at www.wmht.org. Click on the links to local television programming to watch the most recent episode and get recipes and other related resource information.  Underwriters for the show include Eat Smart New York!; SUNY Cobleskill; Hannaford; Upper Hudson Library System; Librarians for the Future; Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation; and MetLife Foundation’s Fit for Life.