Bella Powerfully Showcases How Growers Are Feeding a Growing World
In October of 2022, Farm Journal Studios launched a new original web series in partnership with its clients at Nutrien Ltd., the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, and the brand’s retail division, Nutrien Ag Solutions. Entitled “Leading the Field,” the series set out to highlight America’s farms and farmers with the goal of better connecting consumers with the vital sources of their food. Hosted by veteran NASCAR spotter and entrepreneur Brett Griffin, the series’ first two seasons powerfully showcase the ways growers are feeding a growing world from a unique point-of-view: for, from, and of the farm.
In the weeks ahead, the series will launch its third season, bearing a new title and focus. With “Feeding the Future, Together” coming soon, Farm Journal’s executives and their collaborative production partners from commercial production and post company Bella are very proud to detail their joint efforts in bringing the heartfelt series to vivid life.
“It’s a great honour for us to work with the brilliant team at Farm Journal,” began David Perry, Bella’s executive producer. “With many brands doubling down on creating original series, we are well positioned to partner with them. By leveraging our experience in developing ideas and episodic formats, as well as our network of talent, there is a lot we can do to ensure success.”
David continued, “As a company, we are dedicated to making beautiful work that stands out and has a cultural impact; every talent we have brought aboard has been mission-critical in achieving this objective on this innovative original project.”
For David and Bella, this project has grown from their extensive explorations with Farm Journal’s leaders into the development of original content for agricultural brands. Since their first discussions in 2021, the firms have shaped numerous ideas and approaches for developing highly original branded content.
From those discussions, “Leading the Field” became the first of several digital series pairing Bella with Farm Journal Studios. “Based on the idea of capturing different growers and crops across North America, and illuminating how Nutrien plays a big role in their success, we worked together to figure out the right narrative approach,” David confirmed. “We knew we were going to be working with Brett, who has an amazing charisma and personality for this, and that the show needed to feel personal, authentic, dynamic, and big.”
Photo credit: Bella
L-R: Nutrien Ag Solutions representative Craig Christensen with farmer Andy Stender on location in Calgary, Canada.
Led by David and Bella’s producer Rockie Britzman, for the first two seasons, the production company filmed 14 episodes, spanning 10 states and one Canadian province. Relying very heavily on Britzman and their deep database of production talents, a key to Bella’s cumulative efforts has been its diligence in assembling a spectacular crew for location shoots all across North America, which are often very remote. Notably, these talents have also included directors and show runners who have been instrumental in crafting the story on set.
Generally speaking, each eight-10-minute episode begins with something Brett loves, then goes straight to the source, with help from Nutrien Ag Solutions. Using a combination of original b-roll and location interview footage, Brett illuminates where the product comes from and highlights the people and processes bringing it to market.
To organise the production for each episode, Farm Journal Studios and Nutrien Ag Solutions identify a star crop and grower, leading to in-depth research by Bella to absorb everything about the grower and its base of operations. With local production talents secured through both Farm Journal Studios and Bella, all arrangements are made to facilitate location scouting, pre-production, and production. Given one full day to shoot the principal locations, including drone photography, the crew also captures multiple interviews for each show.
Photo credit: Bella
Brett Griffin conducts an interview on location in Belle Glade, Florida. L-R: Camera operators Ian Cresswell and Ryan Featherstun wield Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6 K G2 digital camera systems.
“I’ve worked with Bella on Leading the Field for two seasons now and have come away both impressed and grateful for their creativity, work ethic and commitment to quality,” said Brian Conrady, general manager for Farm Journal Media, and executive producer for the series. “Shoots for this series have taken us all over the country (even Canada!), where the Bella team captured one stunning visual after another in some very challenging locations.
“Once in post we had so much good material to work with, it was hard to not use it all,” Brian added. “I greatly appreciate the professionalism Bella has shown throughout the entire production process.”
