Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Cindy Zimmerman

This episode comes to you from the 2023 Water for Food Global Conference, which was held May 8-11 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This was the 10th Water for Food Conference but the first time it’s been held since 2019, thanks to COVID.

The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska works to address the global challenge of achieving food security with less stress on water resources through water management in agricultural and food systems and the conference brings together experts and thought leaders from around the world to help find solutions to water and food security challenges.

In this episode, you will hear from DWFI executive director Peter McCornick, DWFI board member Felicia Marcus, Colorado farmer and LRE Water consultant Dick Wolfe, Nebraska farmer Debbie Borg, and Louise Mabulo, founder of The Cacao Project.

We hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

The 2023 Agri-Marketing Conference is approaching fast. You can still register right here. And in this episode you can hear a comprehensive preview of the conference from Vice Chair, Lori Kruger, Signal Theory.

In 2004 Cindy and I announced the start of ZimmComm at the conference which means we’re starting our 20th year!! It was one of the best decisions we have made and we will be exhibiting once again in the Connection Point. I’ll be easy to find and hope you will stop by. I’ll have the Golden ZimmComm Microphone ready to conduct interviews. I’d like you to tell me a little about your what you do, your company and your products/services. Simple. No wrong answers. 

You can also enter our booth drawing which is a Supernote A6 X bundle that includes pen and folio. It is a dedicated digital note taking device!

I want to thank Lori and all the committee members and staff for putting together a fantastic looking conference agenda. I hope to see you there.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

In this episode we’re going to continue learning about newer options for insurance programs for farmers. And in the program we’re going to learn about a relatively new way for farmers, ag processors and cooperatives to have more control over their own risk protection. In particular, the subject will be Captive Insurance Programs. 

I had a conversation with John Capasso, founder and current President & Chief Executive Officer of Captive Planning Associates, LLC. John has over 20 years of insurance experience. He walks us through the definition of captive programs and answers questions farmers have about creating them and making the best use of this risk tool.

So, listen in as John provides us with the “Captivating Possibilities” of Captive Insurance Programs.

That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. ZimmComm is celebrating 19 years in business this month!

In this episode you'll hear about some new products, because that's what Classic is all about. I want to say a special thank you to Syngenta and Phospholutions for making my attendance possible.

First you’ll hear my conversation with Hunter Swisher, CEO/Founder, Phospholutions. This was the companies public announcement of their product RhizoSorb, an entirely new phosphate fertilizer technology. Hunter will explain.

Moving over to Syngenta, a key announcement was a new way to buy seed. They call it Seed Simplified and it is starting with their GHX by Golden Harvest brand to farmers in Iowa and Illinois. Golden Harvest’s Morgan Dugan explains it.

That’s all for the ZimmCast this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. 

I’m going to focus on a couple of different conferences in this episode. First I’m going to share an interview Cindy did with Erik Huschitt, Badger State Ethanol, who is the Chair for the Renewable Fuels Association. This was during the National Ethanol Conference last week. We’ve been working on the annual conference since 2007. Besides Erik’s interview we have lots of content on our AgNewsWire.com virtual ag newsroom. It might be the most we’ve ever produced at this conference. In Cindy’s interview you’ll hear Erik talk about what a great conference it was this year.

Next I’m going to let you hear what Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse, says about the upcoming Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Policy Summit, which is will place in The National Press Club in Washington, DC.

With spring almost here it is time for National Ag Day with activities in Washington, DC the day following the Agri-Pulse event. National Agriculture Day is celebrating 50 years. Amy Bradford, GROWMARK, is chair of the event this year with is hosted by the Agriculture Council of America. Amy talks us through the planned activities.

So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

This week’s program will start with cattle and end with CIRB. By that I mean a couple of my interviews from the Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show and then from the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau Annual Meeting.

First up is Colin Woodall, CEO, NCBA, who provides an overview of the organization and how the 2023 convention and trade show has performed. Following Colin is Kent Bacus, Executive Director, Government Affairs, for NCBA who talks about export markets.

Moving on to the CIRB Annual Meeting you will hear from Jim Wiesemeyer, Farm Journal policy analyst, who provided his annual political update. And then Michael Torrey, Executive Director, CIRB, provides a wrap-up on this year’s event.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

In the middle of the winter meetings I’m going to take a break share a conversation with JJ Rivet, Can-Am. Can-Am provided the members of the Crystal Pig Hunt Club to try out an HD-10 Unlimited model during the early part of the deer hunting season in Georgia, which was very successful. I just talk with JJ a few weeks ago and asked him to talk about the product we worked with. It was a closed cab with heat and air and we filled up feeders, dropped people off at their stands and brought our harvest back to the camp.

In our conversation you'll hear about the specifications of this model and a little bit about its history. The cab is a game changer and you'll hear about various add-ons and options to fit your woods, farm and work needs

We hope to work with Can-Am again in the future because it sure helped us be more productinve in the field.

That's the ZimmCast for now. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

I’m a little behind on this latest episode. The holidays and early conferences have kept Cindy and I very busy. This includes traveling to see family and that includes a beautiful wedding for one of our nieces. We are very blessed to be able to see so many of our family members. We’re scattered all over the place so it’s not easy. But worth it.

So, I’m going to include a few of the interviews I conducted in the last two weeks. 

Let’s start with the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans. These interviews are from the Cotton Sustainability Conference. First up will be Dr. Gary Adams, President and CEO, National Cotton Council, talking about the U. S. Cotton Trust Protocol. Following Gary will be Dr. Jesse Daystar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Cotton Incorporated, talking about Climate Smart Cotton.

There are a quite a few more interviews and other audio in the Beltwide Cotton Conferences virtual ag newsroom on AgNewsWire.com. That includes regulatory updates, cotton policy updates and a world cotton outlook.

Now let’s move to this week’s VISION Conference conducted by Meister Media and held in Glendale, AZ. It is the 6th year for this conference.

First up is Joe Monahan, President and COO of Meister Media. He talks about the conference theme of Harnessing the Power of Agriculture 4.0. Then you’ll hear Rob Dongoski, Global Food & Agribusiness Leader, Ernst & Young. He has some great information about how technology will enable the future food system from producers to consumers.

Coming up next on the ZimmComm schedule is the Clean Fuels Conference followed by the annual meeting of the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau. I’m looking forward to them!

I’d also like to remind you that you can subscribe, not only to the ZimmCast, but the ZimmComm Golden Mic Audio Podcast. That podcast contains all interviews or other audio files that we publish. You can find it in all the major podcast directories. Just search for ZimmComm Golden Mic Audio Podcast.

So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

As you know, our theme here on AgWired has always been, “What’s new in the world of agribusiness.” And in this program we’re going to learn about a relatively new way for farmers, ag processors and cooperatives to have more control over their own risk protection. There is more to the story in my interview with Dennis Daggett, a partner with AgriCap Group, LLC out of Minnesota. We had a great conversation during the recent AgGateway Annual Meeting.

Our team has cultivated relationships with top insurance companies to develop unique and cost-effective insurance solutions. By bringing together top re-insurers, captive insurance managers, and service providers we help farmers, ag processors and cooperatives retain the investment and tax advantages being lost to commercial insurance companies.

We are experienced professionals with a ‘hands-on’ approach to Ag Risk Management and Protection. Our reinsurers have earned an ‘Excellent’ rating from A.M. Best for over 50 years. This rating proves that they have the financial strength to pay your claims and give you peace of mind when you need it most.

So, listen in as Dennis tells us all about AgriCap and how farmers and their ag partners can find out more.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

During the 2022 ASTA CSS & Seed Expo I met one of the international attendees yesterday who lives in Kenya and is Head of Seed Research & Systems Development for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). She has a great story and I think you’ll enjoy learning about farming challenges in the eleven country area that the organization works in.

I think it is always fascinating to learn more about agriculture in other countries. That’s why I’ve supported the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists. They have an annual meeting in a different member country each year. By attending many of them I have been able to travel in Japan, New Zealand, Argentina, Canada, Switzerland and many others. You can learn more about IFAJ at IFAJ.org.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

In this episode I’m going to share some interview with Syngenta leadership from the company’s crop protection media summit. So, let’s learn what’s new with Syngenta Crop Protection. First I’ll share my conversation with Vern Hawkins, President, Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC, followed by Jeff Cecil, Head of North America Crop Protection Marketing. Vern will discuss a “View from the Top.”

Next we have Jeff who will discuss “Syngenta CP Innovation and Economics of Agronomics.”

For more interviews from the Syngenta Media Summit go to AgNewsWire.com and click on the virtual newsroom where you will also find lots of photos from the event in Louisiana.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

We’re reached another milestone. This is episode 700 of the podcast that started back at the beginning of 2005. You can find them all on AgWired.com by searching the category link for the ZimmCast. 

This week I’m going to share a few interviews from my week last week in Minneapolis. First was the NAMA Fall Conference followed by the Export Exchange. First we’ll hear from Matt Coniglio, Farm Progress, and chair of the NAMA Foundation. Next up is Brian Torrey, John Deere, who is the chair for the 2023 Agri-Marketing Conference which will take place in St. Louis next April. He provides a little look ahead for that.

After the NAMA Fall Conference I changed hotels for the Export Exchange which is an opportunity for foreign grain buyers to come visit with farmers, agribusiness companies and the U.S. Grains Council, Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy, who partner to put the even on. First up is Ryan LeGrand, U.S. Grains Council President/CEO. Next Ann Lewis of the RFA provides current numbers for the exports of U.S. ethanol and dried distillers grains.

It was a busy week in Minneapolis but later this week I’ll be in the Georgia woods hunting deer. Looking forward to a little R&R.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

This week’s program will be a preview interview on the NAMA Fall Conference coming up very soon in Minneapolis. To get the details I talked with GROWMARK’s Chris Grogan who is the vice chair of the NAMA committee that has worked with staff to plan this year’s event. We’ll talk about the program and speakers, registration, the hotel and more.

The conference will be held at the Loews in Minneapolis on October 10-12. You can find the link to register on the NAMA website if you haven’t already done so.

In this episode I’m going to share interviews with Syngenta/Golden Harvest representatives who were on location at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA. Thank you Syngenta for making my attendance possible this year. There is a lot of content in the virtual newsroom on AgNewWire that includes lots of photos and interviews. Just go to AgNewsWire.com to check it out and feel free to download and use.

So, in this program you will hear what’s new from the company from:

Rex Gray, Golden Harvest corn product manager

David Schlake, Golden Harvest agronomy manager - west

Andy Ackley, Ph.D., Golden Harvest corn portfolio manager

Ron Beyer, Golden Harvest agronomist

Logan Romines, Syngenta fungicide product lead

And that's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman. This is the 697th episode. Almost to 700!

I’m sharing two of the interviews I conducted during the Bayer Crop Science Field Technology Showcase last week. We had multiple in-field demonstration plots and presenters. I was most interested in one about small stature corn which you’ll hear is the core of Bayer’s Smart Corn strategy. Then on the soybean side of things you’ll hear about new technologies coming to help farmers with weed control and also a description of their investment in CoverCress which is planted in the fall and harvested just ahead of spring planting. The product works as a good cover crop and has additional opportunities for farmers to obtain additional income from the harvested crop. Bayer recently purchased a majority stake in CoverCress, Inc.

First up is my interview with Kelly Gillespie, VP Digital Ecosystems Services, Bayer Crop Science. Then there is my interview with Jennifer Ralston, Global Soybean Seed & Traits Portfolio Manager, Bayer Crop Science.

So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Interview with Oliver Peoples, President and CEO

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. is an agricultural bioscience company that is using its differentiated trait gene discovery platform, the “Trait Factory”, to develop improved Camelina varieties for the production of biofuel feedstock oils, PHA bioplastics and omega-3 (DHA+EPA) oils and to license our yield traits to major seed companies for commercialization in major row crops, including corn, soybean and canola. Yield10 is headquartered in Woburn, MA and has an Oilseeds Center of Excellence in Saskatoon, Canada.

This will be episode 695 of the ZimmCast. I’d love any feedback you want to give. Do you like the format? What would change? What topics or speakers would you like to hear? Message me and I really appreciate it.

In just over a week the annual Ag Media Summit will take place in Raleigh, NC. If you have not registered, you can do so on site if you need to. But you can also follow on social media with the hashtag #AgMediaSummit2022 and I’ll be posting lots of photos and interviews when I can.

In this week’s program you can hear a preview of the event from Kenna Rathai, Broadhead, who is Chair of the Steering Committee for the Ag Media Summit this year.

It is easy to find more information about the Ag Media Summit and to register. Just go to AgMediaSummit.com.

So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

This week I got on the agriblogging and podcasting highway to Altoona, Iowa for the AgGateway Mid-Year Meeting. This is the organization’s “roll up your sleeves, working meeting.” There are many topic work groups and discussions. All of which will lead to the agenda for the Annual Meeting later this year.

So, for this episode I’m going to share some of the interviews I conducted. You can find all of them and photos in the virtual newsroom on AgNewsWire.com. Let’s get started.

First up is Brent Kemp, President/CEO, AgGateway.

Next, let’s listen in to Doug Farrington, BASF, who is Chair of AgGateway.

Now we’ll learn about what AgGateway means to Andres Ferreyra, Syngenta.

I had a great conversation with Dennis Daggett, Enterprise Ag Strategies.

Finally, I’m sharing my conversation with Jacob Crow, GROWMARK, who serves on the board of AgGateway.

As you have heard during the program, AgGateway has organized itself to be a more global organization and I think we’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more about them in the future. I’ll be on a short break from the road but will be attending the Ag Media Summit next.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

In this week’s podcast I’m going to share a couple of speakers who have just been added to the AgNewsWire virtual newsroom for the Alltech ONE Conference. I thought you might be interested in their topics.

Let’s start out with Amy Bell-Elmohammed, Quality Manager for Alltech. Amy managed the Stay Curious Track for the conference. She will explain what that means.

Next we'll turn to a topic area many of you are involved in which is crop science. Learn what Alltech is doing in this area from Steve Borst, Vice President of Alltech Crop Science.

So, if you liked these topics you can find more if you register for the Alltech ONE Conference and look through all the virtual content.

And, that’s the ZimmComm for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

This week I was in Lexington, KY for the Alltech ONE Conference. It has been 3 years since Alltech created one of the very first virtual conferences in 2020. So you can imagine the excitement and joy of being with customers and friends from all over the world. That includes agricultural media who had a great press room to work out of as usual.

So, for this week’s ZimmCast I’m going to share two interviews. First will be the 2021 Alltech Canada Planet of Plenty Award Winner, Andrea Stroeve-Sawa, Shipwheel Cattle Feeders, Alberta. Next will be the 2022 Alltech Canada Planet of Plenty Award winner, Jillian Byers, Blue Ridge Farms, Alberta. 

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

Before getting to our featured guest I did a little look into the way back machine of AgWired. I found a ZimmCast I did with an interview with PrecisonEarth, owned by Cogent3D, Inc, and that’s where I met Aaron Hutchison. We were at the InfoAg Conference in 2011 where the company was showcasing a new iPad soil collect and display app called PrecisionEarth. At the time that was still early use of iOS devices for precision ag. The company then moved on to a product called CropTrak.

Now look forward to today and I just interviewed Aaron, President and Co-Founder, about CropTrak, a cloud technology solutions company that helps multinational food, beverage, agriculture, and protein customers increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of their supply chain management processes and systems. CropTrak just released a platform update that expands its capabilities to provide multi-stakeholders complete visibility of the financial transactions across their ingredient supply chain. For the first time, food and beverage companies managing grower contracts and settlements can do so in one seamless platform optimized for collaboration and insights. Aaron says “Our goal is to continue to lead the food industry with ongoing innovation and process improvements to help assure food is safe, affordable, and sustainable, while making paper contracts a thing of the past.” 

Sounds like a lofty goal and it is as CropTrak is working with companies like Del Monte, Bolthouse Farms, Corteva, Pivot Bio, Benson Hill and more. 

That's the ZimmCast. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

The topic of this episode is the 2022 Agri-Marketing Conference which took place last week. Besides exhibiting in the Connection Point I was also taking photos for NAMA, over 500 of them which you can find in our online album. Just click on the Flickr icon on AgWired.com or AgNewsWire.com to find them.

During the conference I recorded remarks from our industry award winners as well as interviewing the new president of NAMA, Deron Johnson, Curious Plot. The Golden ZimmComm Microphone was active in our Connection Point booth and I conducted interviews with a number of attendees and other exhibitors. You can find them all on the virtual newsroom on AgNewsWire.com. 

I’m going to share a number of these remarks and interviews with you in this week’s program. 

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

Trips on the agriblogging highway continue with the Agri-Marketing Conference coming up next week. After that conference it will be on to Lexington, KY for the Alltech ONE Conference in May. 

ZimmComm will be exhibiting in the Connection Point at the Agri-Marketing Conference once again, in booth 201. The ZimmComm Golden Mic will be there to conduct interviews with attendees. All you have to do is stop by and we can chat about what is new in the world of agribusiness with you. You can also stop by to enter a drawing for a blue Apple HomePod mini while you’re at it.

To get a preview of this year’s NAMA conference I’m sharing a conversation with Tom Posta, Bader Rutter, who is Chair of this year’s event.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

In this week's program we'll get a preview of National Ag Day activities in Washington, DC from Amy Bradford, GROWMARK, and Chair of the Agriculture Council of America.

March 22 is the offical Ag Day but there will be activities on the 21st and 22nd. These include on Monday, a Celebration of Ag with company and association exhibits on the National Mall, the annual Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Policy Summit, a joint reception at the National Press Club and then on Tuesday the exhibits are open again, Sec. of Ag Tom Vilsack will sign a declaration for Ag Day and there will be a virtual event with several speakers including the Outstanding Young Farmers and the Ag Day Essay Contest Winners. You can go to AgDay.org to register now.

That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman

Before getting to this week’s interview I thought I’d summarize a little bit of our activities. Last week Cindy and I tagged teamed the National Ethanol Conference where we created a customized virtual newsroom for the Renewable Fuels Association. There is a lot of content in there including 2 different event photo albums and lots of interviews and other audio. That was in New Orleans.

Which is where I will be back to next week for the Commodity Classic and working with several companies and organizations.

Like most people I know, we are deeply concerned about the war taking place in Ukraine. We have friends there from time spent during IFAJ Congresses and we have heard that they are okay right now. We are praying for an end to this conflict. There are lots of parties that can share the blame on it but what is most important are the lives of people, including children, who are dying or have already become homeless.

So, let’s move on to one of the things we always like to talk about and that’s what is new in the world of agribusiness. Last week we distributed a news release for Verdant Robotics that announced its first multi-action autonomous farm robot for specialty crops. I talked with company co-founder and CEO, Gabe Sibley.