Market to Market: It All Starts With the Weekly Planning Meeting

by Bryon Houlgrave

Dave Miller taps at the pastel-colored keys of his Logickeyboard, a computer keyboard with shortcut options specialized for video editing, checking the commodity reports from around the world while he waits for the rest of the team to arrive for the weekly planning meeting. 

The meeting is the first step in the production process for Market to Market on Iowa PBS. 

Market to Market is in its 50th season of covering rural America in the United States and abroad. The show’s host, Paul Yeager, sits across from Miller and discusses what’s going on in Brazil.

Yeager reads a headline out loud for the team.

“The Brazilian government wants to cut Amazon deforestation to zero,” Yeager reads. 

“So that’s impactful because if you’re not putting more land into production that’s less soybeans and safrinha,” he told the team.

Safrinha is the term used in Brazilian agriculture to refer to the second corn crop of a planting season. The planting of this crop immediately follows the soybean harvest. 

That term might not be on the tip of the tongue for many Iowans because it’s not their job to know global agricultural terminology. It is the job of the Market to Market reporting team and staff of diligent producers. For 50 seasons their reporters have kept their eyes on what’s going on in South America – and just about everywhere else on the planet that grows food.

The meeting consists of Miller, Yeager, and producers Colleen Krantz and Peter Tubbs. This is where they decide what stories deserve coverage when they go to record the program seen every Friday afternoon from January to December on PBS stations and places like markettomarket.org or on the PBS app. 

“We work with one goal in mind, producing the best, most informative program possible,” Miller said. 

Each meeting is highly inclusive and each team member’s ideas are taken into consideration. The only requirement for each story is that it has to have a rural angle. More on that in a bit.

“Everyone brings something to the table and it is important to consider each story on its merits and how the information presented impacts rural America,” Miller said, adding that the goal is to provide facts to keep viewers informed.

Miller has been a producer on Market to Market since September of 1995. In 2015, he became the show’s fifth executive producer. Additionally, Miller is the executive producer of Iowa Press, which also runs on Iowa PBS.

Yeager, a native of Jesup, has been hosting Market to Market since 2020 though viewers may remember him filling in for host Mark Pearson starting in 2008. 

“I grew up watching this program, and to now be a part of the 50th season is an honor,” Yeager said in an earlier Iowa PBS story.

Now back to that rural angle, the very reason viewers have depended on Market to Market for the past 50 seasons. 

Miller said it’s imperative that the stories they produce have ties to the rural community. 

“In 50 seasons, it has always been about the interconnectedness of everything from the farm gate to the dinner plate,” Miller said. 

“Quite often the focus is on what kind of impact a subject will have on agriculture, but it can also be something that will affect businesses on Main Street or the overall community on a side street,” Miller said.

The reporting team at Market to Market has a long-standing tradition of being industry leaders in agriculture and commodity news for rural communities. Since the program first hit airwaves in October of 1975 (under the name Iowa Farm Digest), the program’s reach has grown and can now be seen on 21 PBS stations in 16 states, and is available for streaming online via the show's website, pbs.org, the PBS app and YouTube. 

“Viewers come to us for the amount of research we do in our stories and the in-depth commodity and market analysis,” Miller said. “We have made a commitment to spend more time on a single subject than many news organizations can afford.”

Miller said that Market to Market also provides market analysis that looks beyond real time tickers. 

“While there will always be up-to-the-minute market information, we have our analysts take a look further out than tomorrow with a focus on the next few months,” Miller said.

This, he continued, allows viewers to get a broader view of where the commodity markets may be heading. 

It’s part of the reason Miller feels viewers continue tuning in. 

“We cherish, respect and guard the loyalty of our viewers,” Miller said. “We know that our viewers are coming to us for unbiased news coverage and market analysis every week, 52 weeks a year.”