Washington Grown: Connecting state residents to farmers
The Knutsen farm family from the Skagit Valley was featured in the third season of 'Washington Grown.'
MOSES LAKE — To help bridge the gap between producer and consumer, a Washington-based TV show is connecting Washington residents to farmers and ranchers around the state.
Washington Grown, which just finished its third season, airs on Northwest Cable News and KSPS, according to the show’s executive producer Dave Tanner. The show was developed for farmers and ranchers around the state that wanted to connect the people of Washington to the people who grow and harvest their food.
“Sometimes you see the folks who have a small acre plot at a farmers market or something, but you don’t always get to see the guy who owns a couple thousands acres with a family farm in central or eastern Washington,” Tanner noted. “So it is really a show meant to connect people to farmers.”
The creators of the show were presented a dilemma; how to connect people to farmers in an interesting and engaging way. The answer came by putting food at the center of the show and tracing the food back to its original source. For example, an episode in season 1 the show started off at a restaurant in Seattle with chef Tom Douglas. Douglas then detailed one of his famous potato dishes that is regularly served at one of his Seattle restaurants. The show then traced those potatoes back and detailed where the potatoes that are used to create the dishes came from.
From potato growers in Grant County, to orchardists in Wenatchee, Palouse wheat and lentil farmers, cranberry growers, mint growers in Adams County, Yakima Valley hop growers and Skagit Valley berry growers, Washington Grown has seen several different agricultural stars throughout its three seasons.
But the scope of the show doesn’t stop there, in addition to visiting growers the shown has visited a Lamb-Weston frozen French fry plant and detailed how quickly fresh potatoes from a field actually become frozen French fries.
“Behind all of this is connecting people with farmers and the passion that they have for growing excellent food, their care for food safety and their desire to really have a sustainable operation to pass on to their ancestors,” Tanner explained. “They really think of themselves as people who are feeding the world and they think of it as a responsibility. The opportunity to share that in a show like Washington Grown in kind of a fun and entertaining way is really, we think, an exciting way to tell the story of Washington agriculture.”