''Backyard Farmer'' is a cooperative television program produced by the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

Extension and

Nebraska Public Media Nebraska Public Media, formerly Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET), is a state network of public radio and television stations in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is operated by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission (NETC) ...

. First broadcast in 1953, the show has run for more than 60 years, making it one of the longest-running programs in American television history. It airs live at 7 PM Central Time every Thursday from April through September on Nebraska Public Media. The program's content is exclusively home lawn and

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

information with an emphasis on Nebraska flora and climate considerations. The format consists of a panel of experts, usually from Nebraska Extension, that share information and respond to viewer questions.

Overview

The structure of the show consists of a host who fields viewer questions about home lawn and gardening as well as flora and fauna native to Nebraska to a panel of four specialists. The four specialists are experts in the fields of

Entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

Horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

, Plant Pathology, and Turf Grass and Weeds. Also on the show are segments featuring a plant-of-the-week, live plant and pest samples, as well as a "Lightning Round". During the "Lightning Round" the panelists compete to answer as many viewer questions as possible during a 60-second time frame. During live shows, ''Backyard Farmer'' telephone operators field about 200 calls and 100 emails to find good questions for the panel to answer. Most viewer questions revolve around topics including soil preparation,

water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

, organic food production, landscape practices and edible landscapes.

History

''Backyard Farmer'' first aired in 1953 on

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

, station

KFOR-TV KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside independent station KAUT-TV (channel 43). Both stations share studios in Oklahoma ...

, moving to NET in 1955. (The KFOR license was donated in 1954 to the University of Nebraska by John Fetzer, who also owned competing Lincoln TV station

KOLN Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

, to create NET's flagship station, KUON-TV.) The University's KUON-TV station was run out of the basement of the Temple building on campus. ''Backyard Farmer'' was the brainchild of George Round and Jack McBride. George Round was the Director of University Relations. Jack McBride was the founder of the University of Nebraska Television Department and general manager of the Nebraska ETV Network, which consisted of nine stations. ''Backyard Farmer'' was the fourth Nebraska ETV Network program to begin broadcasting on the KUON-TV network. Both George Round and Dwayne Trenkle were the original hosts and moderators. The show consisted of a host and four specialists. In the 1960s, Backyard Farmer had the highest rating of any educational broadcast in the United States. The show claims to be "The longest running locally produced program in television history."

Cast

Current cast (2017 season)

Kim Todd, Fred Baxendale, Jim Kalisch, Wayne Ohnesorg, Tom Weissling, Jonathan Larson, Roch Gaussoin, Bill Kreuser, Matt Soucek, Loren Giesler, Amy Timmerman, Kevin Korus, Sarah Browning, Elizabeth Killinger, Jeff Culbertson, Kelly Feehan and Dennis Ferraro. Phone Volunteer Gladys Jeurink - 1977–Present

Specialty cast positions

References

{{reflist

External links