New Farming Feeds Alabama Commercials Filmed Throughout State
About 15 Alabama farmers made their film debut in July as production wrapped on new Farming Feeds Alabama™ television commercials and videos.
The Alabama Farmers Federation launched the award-winning campaign in 1998 to connect Alabama families to the men and women who grow their food and fiber. Federation Communications Director Jeff Helms said the campaign is being revived thanks to grants from four commodity checkoff programs and the Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation.
“The new commercials would not be possible without generous gifts from the Alabama catfish; peanut; soybean; and wheat and feed grains checkoff programs, as well as sales of Farming Feeds Alabama license plates,” Helms said.
Filming was done at five farms in Madison, Limestone, Cullman and Greene counties and featured members of the state commodity committees supporting the project. The footage will yield two 30-second television commercials, a testimonial video about Alabama agriculture and individual videos highlighting the four commodity checkoffs.
“The commercials give us, as farmers, a platform to tell our story to the public,” said Talladega County farmer Jeremy Wilson, a member of the State Soybean Committee. “It is part of our duty as soybean producers to promote agriculture, and I believe Farming Feeds Alabama is a great way of accomplishing this.”
Cherokee County farmer Nick McMichen, a member of the State Wheat & Feed Grains Committee, also was interviewed for the videos.
“The average citizen has no clue about agriculture in Alabama,” McMichen said. “We, as farmers, are our own best advocate, and it is of the utmost importance that we get our message out. Wheat and feed grains are an integral part of agriculture in Alabama, and we need to do our part in getting that message to the public.”
The Federation partnered with Hampton-Legg and Sunspot Pictures of Birmingham for the production.
“Over the last five years, we have developed a great relationship with the best crew in Alabama while filming Alfa Insurance commercials,” Helms said. “They believe in the Federation’s mission and leveraged their resources to help us get Farming Feeds Alabama back on the air.”
Wilson said his experience in front of the camera was memorable.
“The production was very professional,” Wilson said. “They wanted it to be the farmers’ story and not the production crew’s story, which was important to everyone involved.”
The Alfa Insurance foundation has agreed to help air the commercials statewide early next year. Follow the Federation on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for a sneak peek this fall.