GRANITE FALLS, Minnesota, March 14, 2024 - In 2020, Minneapolis-based PURIS, the largest processor of pea protein in North America, opened a plant in Dawson. For the past year, Pioneer PBS’ public affairs program Compass has been exploring what the growing popularity of plant-based proteins has meant for Dawson. As consumer demand for plant-based alternatives to meat grows, so does the demand for new methods of farming and food production. What impact will it have on the residents of Dawson and the surrounding rural communities? “Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” will air on Pioneer PBS on Thursday, March 21 at 9 p.m.
This 30-minute documentary contains the highlights of the yearlong, six-episode series which explored the history of soybean processing in Dawson, what PURIS is promising for the future of food and PURIS’ impact on rural southwest Minnesota’s dietary and agricultural trends and on Dawson’s childcare and housing availability.For more information visit www.pioneer.org/altmeat.
“Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” is a partnership between Pioneer PBS, West Central Tribune and WORLD, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Each video story has been accompanied by a newspaper article by reporter Tom Cherveny of West Central Tribune. The videos and articles are available at www.pioneer.org/altmeat and www.wctrib.com/news/local/altmeat.
“Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution,” together with WHRO’s “Against the Current,” a multiplatform series that will tell the story of rural residents’ lives as they live with, and adapt to, the effects of climate change in Virginia’s Eastern Shore, will be broadcast nationally and streamed under WORLD’s Local, USA series under the initiative “My Home is Here: Stories of Rural America.”
Credits: Multimedia Producer Amanda Anderson, Videographer/Editor Esmeralda Ziemer
About Compass
Compass is an award-winning, solutions journalism-centered Pioneer PBS series that features current topics relevant to communities in Pioneer PBS's viewing area. Funding for Compass is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Shalom Hill Farms and members of Pioneer PBS. Learn more at www.pioneer.org/compass.
About Pioneer PBS
Established in 1966, Pioneer PBS is an award-winning, viewer-supported television station dedicated to sharing stories from rural Minnesota with the world. Pioneer PBS is headquartered in Granite Falls, Minnesota, with towers in Appleton, Worthington and Fergus Falls. Pioneer PBS reaches more than a million people in rural areas and small towns in western Minnesota, the eastern Dakotas and northern Iowa. Pioneer PBS is honored to be your television station—the only station in western Minnesota telling your stories and raising your voices into the media landscape. For more information visit pioneer.org or call 800-726-3178.
About West Central Tribune
The West Central Tribune is a multimedia company providing news and information to our print and digital readers across west central Minnesota and beyond. Since 1895, the West Central Tribune has been driven by creating and sharing information, ideas and insight. Learn more at www.wctrib.com.
About Forum Communications Company
Forum Communications Company is rooted in harnessing the power of communication to connect and inform people in the communities we serve. Since 1917, everything Forum Communications Company has done has been driven by creating and sharing information, ideas and insights. Learn more at www.forumcomm.com.
About WORLD
WORLD shares the best of public media in news, documentaries and programming. WORLD’s original series examine the issues and amplify the voices of those often ignored by mainstream media. The multiplatform channel helps audiences understand conflicts, movements and cultures from around the globe. Its original work has won a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, an International Documentary Association Award, a National News and Documentary Emmy Award, two Webby Awards and many others honoring diversity of content and makers. WORLD is carried by 194 member stations in markets representing 77% of US TV households. Funding for WORLD is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. WORLD is produced by GBH in partnership with WNET and is distributed by American Public Television (APT). Find out more at WORLDChannel.org.