Zimmcast

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. Last week I attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, working primarily in the Buffalo Chip Campground with the Renewable Fuels Association. This is the 8th out of the last ten years I’ve had this opportunity. I get to work with a group of great people, creating content during the various sponsorship activities. It is both an educational as well as promotional effort. The focus is on helping motorcycle riders understand the value and safety of using an E10 blend of ethanol and gas in their machines. All motorcycle manufacturers warranty this fuel. Robert White, VP of Industry Relations for RFA, spearheads this project and has done so for all of the 13 years the organization has been involved with the Sturgis Rally. I talked to him about how things went this year as we were wrapping up the activities. The Free Fuel Happy Hours on the Buffalo Chip property is the major component of RFA’s activities as bikers line up to fill their bikes with E10, 93 octane, fuel. It provides a gre

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.  In this episode I’m sharing a conversation with Matt Crisp, CEO of Benson Hill, a food technology company that is unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants for the plant-based food revolution. It is some very new technology they are employing and Matt will walk us through it. There are some terms like Cloud Biology, nutrition security and the company’s CropOS platform that I think you’ll find them very interesting. So, let’s learn more about what is new with Benson Hill. That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. If you are into numbers this is episode # 674. Downloads of the ZimmCast have increased on a regular basis this year. If you’d like to be a ZimmCast sponsor, just let me know. Cindy and I have been making travel plans for work. That’s something pretty rare since early last year. So we’ve got flights scheduled, hotel reservations and conference registered. I guess it’s kind of like riding a bike. Pretty simple list of things that are needed so it has been just like we missed a long beat is all. So, speaking of travel for work this week’s episode will provide previews of two events that take us out on the agriblogging highway. The first is the Meister Media inaugural Tech Hub Live conference in Des Moines. Also included is the Souther Peanut Grower Conference where we create content for the conference blog, something we’ve done since 2008. We will have virtual ag newsrooms from these events on AgNewsWire.com which provide free content for publications, websites, social media,

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This is episode 673 since starting the podcast back in 2005. We’ve come a long way baby! When I started the podcast and AgWired.com my target audience was the membership of the National Agri-Marketing Association. This program will focus on NAMA and specifically the annual Agri-Marketing Conference coming up in just over a month. With me in this program is Greg Lammert, Corteva Agriscience who is chair of this year’s conference. Last year we had a virtual conference and this year we’re back to in-person. We start out the preview with the theme of this year’s conference, “Breaking New Ground.” From there we cover the keynote sessions, breakouts, Best of NAMA Awards, Connection Point and other networking opportunities. If you have not registered the just click on this link to do so. BTW. I will be attending and ZimmComm has a booth in the Connection Point. So, stop by and say hi. And while you are there please bid high on the NAMA Foundation silent auction. We’ve donated an Ap

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. Carbon seems to be the big (C) buzzword lately. In the last couple weeks I’ve lost count of how many announcements I’ve received on this subject in my inbox. One of those was from Farmers Edge that announced the company’s new Smart Carbon program. You can find the announcement and more about this program on their website. This week’s program features a discussion with Wade Barnes, founder/CEO, Farmers Edge. I asked Wade where things stand on the subject of carbon in farming today and how this new program will help customers become more profitable. For starters, the availability of the new program is in Canada and California. But that will change as farmers start generating high-quality carbon credits and buyers become more available to purchase carbon offsets as part of their strategy to become carbon neutral. Other factors come into play too, like carbon taxes. Wade sees a bright future for their Smart Carbon program. That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed i

ARISE USA The Resurrection Tour is an educational non-profit tour seeking to unite all Americans regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age or disability. It is a national conversation and civics dialog tour. Trent Loos describes what it is all about as he is about to embark on this national tour to jump start a local dialogue. It could be the longest running (111 days) civics class in modern history. The ultimate objective is the restoration of integrity to all institutions: local, state, and national.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week’s episode we’re going to hear about the upcoming Alltech ONE Ideas Conference which will be virtual again in 2021. Dr. Mark Lyons, President/CEO of Alltech, says the company has developed its own platform to run the event and all its activities, including a trade show. We’ll get a preview of the trade show portion on May 19, prior to the start of the event itself, which is scheduled for May 25-27. Mark says they have created the Lexington Convention Center into the virtual experience. That ought to be interesting! He also says there will be new opportunities to interact with other participants. Alltech was the first major agricultural business to hold a virtual conference in 2020 and set the bar for how to manage a large and diverse array of topics, speakers and sessions. The event continued throughout the year with new virtual content on different topic areas being published monthly. Registration is open with two levels. Essential: $95 per year and Premium: $19

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, I’m Chuck Zimmerman. Happy Earth Day. This episode is being produced on the 2021 Earth Day and I’ve lost count of all the messages in my inbox or social media feeds as ag and food companies use the opportunity to bring focus to their efforts on caring for our environment. Agriculture has a lot to offer in the discussion on climate which has ramped up to a fever pitch under the new administration in Washington, DC. So, let’s move on to this week’s program in which I have a conversation with Cameron Camfield, founder and CEO of Stratovation Group. Cam has lots of energy as you’ll hear in our discussion and he’s got it focused on working for his clients. That’s the ZimmCast for this week. In case you didn’t know it you can find more podcast we produce in all your favorite podcast apps. That includes the Golden ZimmComm Mic Podcast, the Ethanol Report and the Daugherty Water for Food Podcast. I hope you enjoy them and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, I’m Chuck Zimmerman. In this week’s program we’re going to talk about business success and food fear. How do those things fit together? We’re going to find out. In fact, we’re going to find out in my conversation with a businessman, agriculturalist, speaker, podcaster, author and consultant who has been on the ZimmCast before - Damian Mason. Damian has a new book out called Food Fear and he'll talk about what he wanted to accomplish with the book. Additionally, Damian will also discuss a product that's an outshoot of his consultancy work called The Business of Ag Success Group. If you like what you hear in the ZimmCast please subscribe in any of the major platforms. And you can also search for theZ immComm Golden Mic Podcast too, which includes all the audio we produce. And, if you would like to advertise in the ZimmCast or become an on-going sponsor please let me know and we’ll work out a plan just for you. So that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. Since it is Ag Week I want to say thank you to farmers and everyone in the food and agribusiness industries for helping feed the world. Ag Week emphasizes the importance of agriculture and in this program I’m sharing a conversation about a new impact study of the food industry to the U.S. economy. It’s titled, “2021 Food and Agriculture Industries Economic Impact Study.” To learn more about it I visited with Connor McKoy, Communications Director for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. The study is impressive and there is a whole website dedicated to it and making the information simple to navigate. After that discussion I move on to how farms and rural households can enhance and extend their wifi coverage with new products from Ayrstone Productivity. Bill Moffitt, President, talks about their newest Ayrmesh products. So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening. If you like what you hear in the ZimmCast please subscribe in a

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This week I’m going to talk with a fellow farm podcaster. He’s Matt Brechwald, producer of the Off Farm Income Podcast and a lot more. Matt produces a lot of podcasts and when I learned about what he’s doing I wanted to talk with him about it since he really jumped into farm podcasting in a big way. So, listen in to our conversation and at the end we let you know the best way to find either of us. I’m going to keep in touch with Matt and hope you’ll subscribe to his podcasts.  So that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week's program we're going to learn a lot about AgWiki from CEO, Randy Krotz. AgWiki is a community of farmers, researchers, nutritionists, and consultants seeking to discover solutions to sustainability and world hunger…socially. Randy will talk about the startup venture and what the mission is as well as how you can get involved and even help with the development of AgWiki through participation on the platform and through investment. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, I’m Chuck Zimmerman. In this week’s program we’ll hear interviews from the Beltwide and Biodiesel conferences that took place virtually this month.  So, let’s get a taste of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences and the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo and I’ll start with Dr. Gary Adams, National Cotton Council President and CEO, as Cindy talks with him about how the virtual Beltwide event went. Next up I talk with Chad Stone, Renewable Energy Group VP and Chairman of the National Biodiesel Board. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, a podcast started in 2004 to focus on agricultural marketing and what is new in the world of agribusiness. I’m Chuck Zimmerman saying Happy New Year to y’all. Here at ZimmComm we’ve been living in the virtual world of communications for almost 17 years. We started out distributing news releases with pre-recorded sound bites and interviews before jumping into blogging and podcasting and then starting social media channels in YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and so many more. We’ve seen many of these platforms come and go too. It looks like we’ll continuing using these and other new apps like Zoom, Meetings and Skype as travel bans and the inability for large gathering to happen, continue into the foreseeable future. But that’s where our virtual newsroom and virtual coverage of various events comes into play and we’ve already got quite a few on our calendar. Please give me a call or send an email if you would like to discuss how we can do this for you to enhance your communi

Interviews with Dan Basse, AgResource; John Latham, ASTA Chair; Pam Johnson, Iowa farmer, Andy LaVigne, ASTA CEO

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. The Agricultural Retailers Association annual 2020 ARA Conference & Expo went virtual this year Dec. 1-2. Ag professionals from across the country went “All In For Ag Retail” with interactive workshops, engaging networking opportunities, and a 3D Expo Hall. During the event the ZimmComm Team collected relevant screenshots, conducted interviews with speakers, award winners and staff. Providing us with a wrap-up of the conference is ARA Chairman, Rod Well, GROWMARK. He summarizes the activities and talks about future priorities for the organization. So, that's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week's program Cindy and I share excerpts from interviews we recorded for the NAFB Trade Talk session. Some of these were before the convention or during the session. Included are now past-President, Rita Frazer, RFD Radio; Liz Hunt, Syngenta; Andy Lavigne, ASTA; Geoff Cooper, RFA and Norm Davy, Heliae. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Cindy talked with Frances Hayes, Communications Specialist for the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska, about how they have adapted their communications strategy this year to reach a diverse group of stakeholders around the world in the middle of a pandemic. We also have an interview about a company called C-Lock, which developed technology to help improve animal management, profits, and sustainability in their livestock systems and awarded Research Equipment Grants to find new ways to use their tools. The founder of C-Lock is Dr. Patrick Zimmerman – so since we shared a surname I thought I would give him a call and find out

So, what’s this week’s episode about? It’s about agriculture’s economic impact on a very urban region, specifically St. Louis. The St. Louis Agribusiness Club just announced the results of their Agricultural Economic Impact Study on the St. Louis Region. This study has been conducted every five years since the first one was conducted in 2004. And guess what. ZimmComm produced that first study and you can still see those results on the organization’s website. To talk about the study I’m going to share conversations with Matt Amick, Missouri Soybean Association and President of the St. Louis Agribusiness Club. Then you’ll hear Alan Spell, University of Missouri Extension, who actually researched and prepared this year’s study.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This is an exciting time for deer hunters. The season is about to get started for those of us who hunt in Georgia. So, preparations are being made for a great opening day at the Crystal Pig Hunt Club. My preparation includes getting to test drive a new John Deere Gator XUV855M S4. This crossover utility vehicle will take us out into the woods over some tough terrain and hopefully to include transporting some of our harvest. I'll be documenting our experience but thought I'd kick start things with an interview with Mark Davey, John Deere Marketing Manager. There are many features on these new Gators that make them ideal for hunting. Some of those include easier shifting and instant engagement of 4-wheel drive, better power steering and a digital display panel to see important indicators. In this week's program Mark and I talk about the new Gator models and what the key updates are. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.