About Where The Food Comes From
“Where I come from, it’s cornbread and chicken
Where I come from, a lot of front porch pickin’
Where I come from, tryna make a livin’
And workin’ hard to get to Heaven
Where I come from.”
— Alan Jackson,
“Where I Come From”
There is a uniquely country spirit that goes far deeper than saying thank you, ma’am and y’all, it penetrates to the core of who we are and what we do, how we live our lives and how we conduct our business.
Nowhere is that more evident than in farming, wherever it may be. From country farms and packinghouses to urban distribution centers and support industries, it’s always there, a low hum that runs beneath everything we do, informs our days and nights and keeps us true to ourselves.
Where The Food Comes From is a national television series airing Sundays at 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Eastern on The RFD-TV Network — and now we’re heading into national distribution on other channels and networks everywhere thorough our new agency deal! We’re also a website, social media mover, cookbook, clearing house for food and farm news and anything else cool about what we eat and drink.
We’re shaking things up a little bit. People have a lot of misconceptions about farmers and farming. As former Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black put it: “People love farmers — they’re not too sure about farming.”
We’re here to put your mind at ease. We dig deep from the farm to the fork to show you every step along the way — and introduce you to people who really care about what you and your family are eating.
We’re also making it affordable for farms and food companies to advertise on television and the internet right alongside the big boys. If you’re interested, contact us for more info — info@WTFCF.com.
And if you have an idea for show or an article, or a recipe you’d like to share, you can drop us a line at that same address.
We hope, like our farming brothers and sisters say, you’ll come grow with us.
Chip Carter (Editor & Publisher)
“I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah…”
— Little Feat, “Willin’”
About Chip Carter
For the last dozen years, I have burned up the highways and byways of North America from my home base in Tampa traveling to farms and fields across North America.
I started off in the print world as a syndicated columnist with The Chicago Tribune and Washington Post — 20 years of that showed me my future was back home in the country.
I started covering the farming world in 2009 and traveled nonstop learning the ropes. Seven years ago I started a new media company with the express intent and purpose of making a national tv series, Where The Food Comes From, airing Sundays at 10 p.m. and 1 P.M on The RFD-TV Network and now heading into mainstream distribution everywhere thanks to our new agency.
In 2018 I was privileged to begin serving as a correspondent and producer with the RFD-TV Network on Market Day Report and Rural Evening News.
That same year I also produced and hosted the Network Christmas special, Larry’s Tree: A Christmas Journey to The White House.
I’ve busted watermelons in the fields of the Rio Grande Valley and eaten Vidalia onions straight out of the ground in Georgia. I’ve seen hothouses that look like spaceships in Canada and Mexico, and smelled Gilroy, CA in the summer when the garlic’s in the air (smells like money). I’ve milked water buffaloes in North Carolina. I’ve made cheese in Wisconsin. I’ve gotten behind a mule and plow to find out how they did it back in the day. I’ve hit all the big food and farming shows from Atlanta to Chicago to L.A. but I’ve spent way more time than that in small towns and places where the nearest hotel is so far away it just makes sense to stay with hosts who long ago became friends (Thanks, folks).
I’ve been in university laboratories looking at what innovations are coming next and talked to legislators who are making the rules to govern that. I’ve learned the difference between a sweetpotato (yes, it’s one word — look it up) and a yam. I know what a jackfruit is. I’ve ridden a ship filled with South African citrus up the Delaware River to Philadelphia and watched in wonder as fresh fruit poured forth from the hold on the 4th of July.
Like the Johnny Cash song says, I’ve been everywhere, man.
It’s been an astonishing and eye opening experience to see this remarkable network that we have constructed, to go out and meet the people who feed us where they work and live, and to see just where the food comes from and how it gets to our tables — and to now have the opportunity to share those stories with countless others.
As a native Georgian, the son of a small-town Southern preacher, I’ve been delighted to get to come back home and honor my roots. I also still pick a little music now and then — you’ll even hear some of it in the show (including the theme song — which I got to play on the same 1961 Fender Telecaster that played on Roy Orbison’s “O, Pretty Woman”).
But my focus these days is telling the remarkable stories of farming and food and where we all fit into this amazing life that literally keeps the world fed.
I’m pretty much always out there on the road — and I’m heading where you live. There’s still a whole lot for me to learn. My phone is always on, my door is always open, and I do hope you won’t hesitate to let me hear from you about ways I can make Where The Food Comes From the best it can be to represent the true Heartbeat of America.