Hannah Borg’s family farm in northeast Nebraska’s rolling hills provided the setting for a Ford commercial aired during the 2020 FOX NFL broadcast of Washington at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day.
And it’s Borg, a 23-year-old former FFA member of the Allen FFA Chapter and now a sixth-generation farmer, who plays the starring role in the spot thanking farmers for their role in filling Thanksgiving tables during the week. The closing sequence also showcased Ford’s 72-year support of FFA.
Hannah Borg
Filmmakers descended on the Borg family operation the summer of 2020 to film the commercial, Borg said. So far, Ford has produced three commercials using the footage. The broadcast of “The Future of Farming: Thanks” during Thursday’s traditional Thanksgiving NFL game in Dallas provided its largest platform yet.
“Farmers are essential to the prosperity of our country,” said Todd Eckert, Ford Truck Group Marketing Manager and National FFA Sponsors’ Board Member. “We saw that this year more than ever; while the rest of our country quarantined at home, these farmers still worked from dusk to dawn for the sake of their communities. Their unwavering commitment should be celebrated.”
Eckert said Ford made it a point to highlight Borg as an example of the company’s appreciation for farmers and FFA.
“Hannah embodies all that is great about FFA. She’s part of a farming family that goes back six generations, and she’s been integral in implementing modern practices on their farm,” Eckert said. “Beyond her day to day duties on the property, she’s also shown a commitment to higher education, graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She’s an excellent example of what being a farmer today is all about. Plus, the Borgs are a Ford family through and through.”
The Borg family runs a diversified operation with crops, cattle and chickens, but like most, they’ve never been part of a major television commercial production. It was “truly a once in a lifetime experience,” Borg said as she described what it was like behind the scenes.
“I have a newfound appreciation for the actors and actresses that usually do this because there’s a lot of energy that goes into getting it just right,” Borg said.
Not only did Hannah played the central figure in the commercials, but she also helped the production team hired from across the country learn how to depict the real production agriculture setting accurately. It started with phone calls in February, photos and videos sent back and forth through the spring and, finally, a crew arriving in July. Along the way, Hannah’s agricultural knowledge – she has a degree in agricultural communications – guided the crew.
One scene involved Hannah walking through a cornfield. The producers loved the “texture” of the scene she said and asked if it were something she would normally be doing. Borg said it was like how she would soon check a field of sweet corn for harvest.
Behind the Scenes
(Photos provided by Hannah Borg)
Another scene, included in the commercial, shows Hannah throwing a hay bale off the back of the truck bed. According to Hannah, the first take of that scene almost ended in disaster when a timing miscue saw the hay bale hit an operator using an expensive camera. But all ended well as they got the shot on the next take – complete with an FFA emblem sticker on the back window of the truck.
Borg said each member of her family was involved in the shoot. Many of the scenes that show the Ford Super Duty F-350 Platinum Truck in motion (it was a brand-new pickup borrowed from a Ford dealer in Omaha) were driven by Borg.
“I can officially call myself a stunt driver now,” Borg said.
While the production crew marveled at the Borg farm equipment, Hannah marveled at the intricacies required to get everything just right in each scene. There were safety precautions, legal checks and tiny adjustments to focal lengths. One scene saw Hannah turn on a light, move through her farmhouse, walk out the front door, meet up with her father next to a waiting Ford truck, hop in and drive off.
“We filmed that for two hours at 5 a.m. for two straight days,” Borg said. “They were using a drone to get the shot, and we had this very specific, choreographed walk. On some takes, I had too much pep. On others, not enough. Eventually, we got it right.”
Inside her house, the producers had re-arranged furniture to allow Hannah to walk quickly in the scene. They even replaced her light bulbs with brighter ones to get the color just right. Each time, Borg said, she had to get in the truck a specific way – door open, sit down, close door, seat buckle on, ignition – and then drive it a few feet.
Borg said she’ll be watching with pride in between the usual daily chores that help keep the farm running and Americans fed.
“I’m super proud that Ford took the time to put what we do in Nebraska on the map,” Borg said. “What we do isn’t fancy, but it’s important.”
If you would like to follow Ford’s lead and support FFA as we create young leaders who will change the world, visit https://donate.ffa.org. Ford has supported the National FFA Organization since 1948 with one of our first dealer scholarship programs.
