NCI Video Production | September Update
Welcome to the first video-focused blog post of the Northern Crops Institute (NCI) communications team. Video production at NCI has expanded dramatically in this past year due to the online shift from the Covid-19 pandemic. Though we are glad to be returning to the auditorium for in-person courses this year, the element of video work for online audiences is here to stay.
Summer Video Shoot Recap
The NCI supports promotion and market development of crops in the region of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. The communications team has made stops along all corners and everywhere in between, capturing video of the crops of the northern region.
Video Shoot at IND Hemp in Fort Benton, MT
The team loaded up the video equipment for a 5-day tour through North Dakota and Montana in July, putting over 2,000 miles on the vans. This consisted of on-site video shoots and interviews at farms, local businesses, breweries, mills, and more.
Read more about NCI’s western travels at https://www.northern-crops.com/whats-new/nci-montana-trip.
Lastly, the remaining months of summer included video shoots to several different farms, gathering video footage and photos of the crops while they remained green before the fast-approaching harvest time.
September Video Shoot Outlook
With the extremely dry conditions of the summer, harvest season is already beginning and will soon be in full swing. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, nearly every inch of the northern region experienced severe drought this summer, and many areas reached extreme and/or exceptional drought levels.
Despite weather challenges, farmers are gearing up and the equipment is ready. “Stuff is starting to turn really fast here,” says Grant Kessel of Arrow K Farms in Belfield, North Dakota. “Even though it’s a short crop, there’s still going to be an element of stress of harvest and timeliness.”
September will undoubtedly bring multiple harvest shoots to the calendar. The team is looking forward to getting out in the fields and into the combines with farmers in the area telling their stories. Two shoots have been confirmed on the calendar thus far, with destinations of Oakes, North Dakota, and Mahnomen, Minnesota.
Corn harvest is the primary focus of the September video shoots, with an emphasis on the ethanol market. Along with gathering shots of ethanol plants and grain elevators, the NCI communications crew is also getting into the harvest action early to capture the farmers’ stories.
“We started corn harvest September 7th this year, which is almost a month ahead of schedule. Normally, we start at the end of September,” says Justin Quandt of Quandt Brothers farm in Oakes, North Dakota.
NCI Course Video Production
In addition to telling the stories of northern farmers during harvest, each of NCI’s educational courses will certainly contain elements from the video crew. This month, the courses being held by NCI are Grain Procurement Management for Importers (Online) and Barley and Malt Quality: A field to Brewhouse Perspective.
For more information about upcoming courses at Northern Crops Institute, please visit https://www.northern-crops.com/courses.
The NCI communications team will be busy building video portfolios surrounding the upcoming course topics. This includes brewery and malthouse tours, farm interviews, course introductions, and more. Already in production and expected to be completed this month are videos from Arrow K Farms, O’Hara Land & Cattle, and Quandt Brothers.
Video Shoot at Arrow K Farms in Belfield, ND
The Arrow K Farms video from Belfield, North Dakota, includes an interview with Grant and Garett Kessel, sons of owner and past Northern Crops Council chairman Greg Kessel. The Kessel’s share about harvest preparation, overcoming the drought challenges of the 2021 summer, and an overview of their grain cleaning process for their own malt facility.
During filming for the O’Hara Farms video in Fort Benton, Montana, the session took the team through a tour of numerous fields, courtesy of owner Mike O’Hara. He also discussed five of the different crops in mini-interviews while the team gathered pre-harvest footage of the fields.
In NCI’s production of the Quandt Brothers farm video, Justin Quandt describes the positive impact of the ethanol industry in North Dakota farm country. With five of the six ethanol plants in North Dakota located in a town of less than 2,500 people, the industry plays a huge role in the economy of rural communities.
It is an exciting time for the growing communications team at NCI. Engaging with the virtual audience is more important than ever, and the new and continuing emphasis on sharing the NCI’s mission through video content has been a success thus far.
For more information about the Northern Crops Institute, please visit https://www.northern-crops.com/.
VIDEO PREVIEW: Check out a preview featuring NCI Director Mark Jirik and Fort Benton, MT, farmer Mike O'Hara of O'Hara Land & Cattle. Stay tuned for the full O'Hara farm tour as Mike talks crop diversity, 2021 harvest predictions, sustainability, and more.