Zimmcast

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This week I had the opportunity to fly for the first time in over 5 1/2 months to put the Golden ZimmComm Microphone to work at a farm event. Thank you Farm Journal for having me help with your Farm Journal Field Days event which included on-farm activities as well as a significant virtual experience. In this program I’m going to share an interview with the Iowa farm owner and field day host, Ben Riensche, Blue Diamond Farming Company.  After my conversation with Ben I’m going to include the newest podcast we’re producing with the first episode that just published. It is the Daugherty Water for Food Podcast. In the first session, you’ll hear from award-winning chef, entrepreneur, and agriculture advocate, Louise Mabulo, as she discusses youth and sustainable solutions to food security. Looking ahead I don’t know when I’ll need to get back on the agriblogging highway. That doesn’t mean the ZimmComm Team isn’t still working on various projects which include assisting companies

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, featuring weekly interviews with agribusiness industry leaders and all about what’s new, with a focus on agricultural marketing. The #NAMA20 is a wrap and it was a great show. If you are registered you can still go back and watch presentations. You can also still visit the Connection Point and say hi to those of us with a booth. You can also visit our virtual newsroom on AgNewsWire to see some images from the conference and hear from NAMA Sustaining Sponsors. In this week’s program we’re feature some more of the sustaining partners of the National Agri-Marketing Association. You’ll hear from David Lazarenko, Think Shift; Dustin Johansen, OBP and Marty Wolske, Meredith Agrimedia. They will talk about their organizations and why they support the work of NAMA. So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening. 

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, featuring weekly interviews with agribusiness industry leaders and all about what’s new, with a focus on agricultural marketing. It is 2020 Virtual Agri-Marketing Conference week and this week's program will feature some more of the sustaining partners of the National Agri-Marketing Association. You'll hear from Scott McClure, Brighton; Matt Herman, DTN/The Progress Farmer and Tom Brand, NAFB. They will talk about their organizations and why they support the work of NAMA. I'll have a virtual newsroom available on AgNewsWire.com with all the interviews and more starting tomorrow morning. Stop and see ZimmComm in the Connection Point in the virtual conference. We'd love to see you. This week also includes some virtual work we're doing for the Renewable Fuels Association for their annual educational/promotional sponsorship at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and the Buffalo Chip Campground. Bikers will have Free Fuel Happy Hours once again. Keep an eye on AgWired and AgNewsWire for

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.  In this week's program you'll hear from Marvin Kokes, Senior VP of Corporate Relations, NCBA. We talk about this week's Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting and the virtual ag newsroom we created on AgNewsWire. From there I share a few more of my conversations with sustaining partners of the National Agri-Marketing Association. You'll hear from Curt Blades, Senior VP, Agricultural Services, Association of Equipment Manufacturers; Laurie Fleck, President/CEO, FLM/Harvest and Laurel Caes, Public Relations Manager, North America, John Deere. I'll have more to come in future episodes. BTW. If you haven't registered for the Virtual Agri-Marketing Conference you can still do so at NAMA.org. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This week's program provides a preview of the Virtual Agri-Marketing Conference which will be held August 11-13. Conference Chair Rebecca Ivey, Case IH, gives us a preview of the program.  Following that I'm sharing conversations with several of the NAMA Sustaining Partners starting with Susan Rhode, Farm Journal, followed by Doug Reynolds, Corteva Agriscience and then Amy Bradford, GROWMARK. They talk about their companies, how they've dealt with the effects of the pandemic and why they support NAMA. I will be featuring more of these in future episodes of the ZimmCast. 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 episode I talk with Chris Clayton, Ag Policy Editor, DTN/The Progressive Farmer, who is the Steering Committee Chair for Ag Media Summit. The event was postponed to November 14-18 in Kansas City. The conference hotel is the Loews Kansas City Hotel which is brand new and looks fabulous. Chris says the program is coming together and companies that would like to be a sponsor and have a booth in the InfoExpo trade show can find more details on that on the website. He's encouraging people to register. In fact, here's an excerpt from a column he just wrote about that. "On Friday, though, I placed a bet for four months out. I registered for the Ag Media Summit, now slated for Nov. 14-18 in Kansas City. I'm making a bet that we're going to get this thing figured out, much like the businesses that have reopened, the colleges bringing in students, like my son, and the schools that are reopening, like the one my daughter attends and the one where my wife is a librarian.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, featuring weekly interviews with agribusiness industry leaders and all about what's new, with a focus on agricultural marketing. This week we’re going to hear from someone whose goal is to bridge rural and urban America. You probably have heard of him. Maybe you haven’t. But in this week's program I'm sharing a conversation with Trent Loos, Loos Tales, Rural Route and more. We also ramble around on some other topics like Impossible Foods and virtual events. So, that's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.    In this week's program I'm sharing a conversation with Gil Gullickson, Crops Technology Editor for Successful Farming magazine/Agriculture.com. We talk about the 100 year celebration of the AAEA, The Agricultural Communicators Network. We also talk about this year's Ag Media Summit which has been moved to November.   Let's all hope that we're closer to "normal" by that time. If not, I hope to help create virtual content for AAEA to help with our milestone celebration.   That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

This week's program provides a wrap-up of the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience. This virtual experience took place throughout the week with daily keynote speakers and focus sessions and more. All of this was available on-demand and still is. In fact, you can still register and new content will be made available each month until the 2021 event. In the program I talk with Dr. Mark Lyons, Alltech President/CEO, who provides a summary of how the event unfolded and some key takeaways. I also share my interview with event keynoter, Dr. Frank Mitloehner, UC-Davis, who spoke on Clearing the Air: Debunking the Myths of Agriculture. The Alltech ONE Virtual Experience provides a template for how engaging and entertaining a virtual conference can be. Please feel free to check it out.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This week I’m sharing a conversation with Erika Osmundson, Director of Marketing and Communications, AgCareers.com. Erika and I talk about how the pandemic situation has affected job seekers and ag companies looking for employees. I really appreciate her time and outlook for people who would like to work in the ag industry and the companies looking for people right now. Here’s to a near term future when things do get back to normal!  That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This week’s program is part two of a series featuring conversations with the leadership of agricultural media and marketing associations. This week I’m sharing conversations with Samantha Kilgore, AAEA, The Agricultural Communicators Network, Lindsay Graber Runft, Livestock Publications Council and Kristy Mach/John Blue, Agricultural Relations Council. Each of these organizations has had to cancel or postpone important annual events and the staff has had to deal with that as well as looking at alternative communications methods and what plans look like going forward. Learn how they've handles things and hear some good ideas and suggestions as well. How has your company or organization has been affected and what are you learning during this trying time? Let me know.

This week's program is part one of at least two that feature conversations with the leadership of agricultural media and marketing associations. This week I'm sharing conversations with the National Agri-Marketing Association and Jenny Pickett, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting and Tom Brand and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists/Canadian Farm Writers with Hugh Maynard. Each of these organizations has had to cancel or postpone important annual events and the staff has had to deal with that as well as looking at alternative communications methods and what plans look like going forward. Feel free to let me know how your company or organization has been affected and what you're learning during this trying time. That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening.

In this week's program we're going to learn about Calyxt, a plant science company, doing some very interesting work with new technology. I spoke with Calyxt CEO, Jim Blome, about the work they are doing. He focuses on the future of food and how the types of technology being developed at the company is creating new products to give farmers more options to meet today's consumer demands. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

In this week's program I'm featuring a conversation with John Demerly, CEO, CommoditAg, about the new app they launched during Commodity Classic. That was the last on location meeting either of us attended and it seems like a lot longer ago than it really is! John says the app provides the opportunity for agricultural producers and farmers to research and order products anytime, anywhere with their mobile devices. He says they have a growing line-up of products available and just announced a "free shipping" program for the first time for customers. To download the app, go to the Apple App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices. To learn more about CommoditAg, visit commoditag.com.

In this week's program I'm sharing a conversation with Aidan Connelly, CEO, Cainthus. It has been quite some time since we've had this opportunity. We set a convenient time for each of us since he was in Ireland and I am here in the U.S. During my conversation with Aidan we talk about the work Cainthus does and he provides his thoughts on the current COVID-19 problem. We also talk about the value of podcasts, especially in light of the difficulty for travel right now. I'm also going to share the first episode of a new podcast series we're producing - Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services. It debuted Wednesday and will be produced monthly moving ahead. The topic of the first show is Understanding Nitrogen and includes experts, Tim Laatsch, technical agronomy manager, and Michael Berry, director of brand expansion. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this crazy pandemic panicked world I think we need a dose of normalcy. Don't you? Well, listening to a good podcast fits the bill IMO. First though, I just want to say that ZimmComm is committed to be ready, willing and able to find creative solutions for your agricultural marketing and communications needs.  It’s a challenging time to make marketing decisions due to the uncertainties with the global virus situation. Cindy and I are working with clients on "virtual" content projects like podcasts, releases and more. These are channels that don’t require travel! And these are services and skills we’ve honed since starting this company 16 years ago and an additional over 20 years of experience working in agricultural communications, mostly farm radio. We know how tight budgets are, so these services are priced to work within yours. I’m available at your convenience to discuss how we can help you maximize your marketing dollars. Feel free to call or email. So, back to this w

This week's program features a roundtable discussion I had during Commodity Classic in San Antonio, TX. I sat down with the CEO's of several Farm Credit associations: Aaron Johnson, Farm Credit Illinois, Bill Johnson, Farm Credit Mid America and Mark Jensen, Farm Credit Services of America (FCSAmerica) and Frontier Farm Credit. Our topic was Volatility and how it is reshaping risk and financial management. We talked about how farmers are doing now in light of the volatility of the last year which includes weather extremes, disease and political uncertainty. You'll hear these leaders talk about the short-term outlook and then looking ahead long-term with ideas about critical strategies for the future and what services Farm Credit can offer. That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

In this week's program I'm sharing an interview Cindy did with RFA Senior Advisor, Bob Dinneen, who reflects on the 25 years of the National Ethanol Conference. I'm also sharing an interview I did at the conference with Kenny Hauk, Hauk Designs. Kenny built a custom Jeep Wrangler that runs on E85. It is a monster machine and will be touring the country with RFA. You can watch Kenny's show, Hauk Machines, on Amazon Prime to see the project in 2019 episodes. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

In this week's program I talk about the whole concept of being an industry influencer on social media before sharing an interview with Trent Johnson, Owner, Greeley Hat Works. I met Trent in the NCBA Trade Show and learned a lot about hats. There is a difference between western and cowboy hats and Trent explains why. He talks about the value of custom fitting a hat and how to take care of them. He also shares some stories of his experiences over the years making hats for movies and even for the military. He even took my measurements for a hat that might just work for this agriblogging photographer that has a big old flash on top of his camera! I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

In this week's program you'll hear Cindy share news and information from the National Biodiesel Conference and some of the interviews and audio we produced which was used on the Biodiesel Conference Blog. Then I provide some examples of how well content we produce for virtual newsrooms performs on our AgNewsWire website. This would include audio downloads, ad impressions, social media engagement and impressions and of course, our photos. Please contact me if you would like to learn more or receive a custom quote for how we can work with your company or organization to create meaningful content to amplify your communications & marketing efforts.