North Dakota Barley Farmer Featured in Budweiser’s Super Bowl Ad

If you’re looking for one more reason to actually pay attention to the commercials during the NFL’s championship game this Sunday (as if we ever needed an excuse), North Dakota has officially entered the Super Bowl chat.

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The big game airs on NBC, and if you’re watching locally on KFYR-TV, keep those eyes glued to the screen. Our North Dakota affiliate is teasing something pretty special — and yes, it involves wide-open plains, honest-to-goodness agriculture, and a moment of fame that stretches from Coleharbor to couches across America.

Thanks to a story first reported by Jody Kerzman at KFYR, we now know that a North Dakota farmer will be starring, briefly but proudly, in a Budweiser Super Bowl commercial. And not just any farmer. Brian Fransen is a fourth-generation barley farmer from Coleharbor, working the same land his great-grandfather settled after emigrating from Sweden.

Talk about an American story.

In the interview with NBC, Fransen said he was harvesting his barley crop when Budweiser contacted him about appearing in a Super Bowl commercial. The opportunity led to his brief appearance alongside a Budweiser Clydesdale and a bald eagle in the national advertisement titled “American Icons.”

Fransen appears on screen for about one second in the commercial (which can be seen below), but the spot is intended to highlight the role farmers play in American agriculture and beer production. Fransen is a fourth-generation farmer who continues to work the land his family settled in North Dakota generations ago.  The beer company has been serving Americans for over 150 years, even after its recent 2023 sale for $52 billion to the Belgian-owned InBev.

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Thank you, Budweiser, for the nod to North Dakota, and to NBC for bringing it to our attention. If you want to see the 60-second commercial during the Super Bowl, the kick-off is at 5:30 p.m., or listen live on 660 KEYZ, with coverage starting at 4:00 pm.

So yes, cheer for your team. Yes, judge the halftime show. But this Sunday, cheer a little extra loud for North Dakota agriculture, making its Super Bowl debut. How cool is that?