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

Welcome to another year of agriblogging and farm podcasting. It’s hard to believe that we’re coming close to 21 years since we started ZimmComm in 2004. Cindy and I have worked together in the ag marcom field for about 21 years before that. Now we’re doing some thinking and planning for 2025. I sense that this year will be a big one for us

We’ve already got plans made for the same conferences during the upcoming months. We traveled to work at 20 different events last year. So, we’ll see how things go as time moves on.

We started taking photos at events 20 years ago when Flickr started. Since then we’ve uploaded 222,000 photos and they have collectively received 38 million views. In 2024 we uploaded 6,611 photos from the events and they have been viewed 1.1 million views.

On the audio side of things we started using Libsyn as our audio/podcast server platform in 2017. In that time, and just looking at our ZimmComm Golden Mic Audio podcast, we’ve received 2.8 million downloads of those files, with 137,000 in 2024.

Our AgNewsWire service had a banner year in 2024 with the distribution of over 80 news releases for our clients. And speaking of news releases we’re offering a 2025 discount for existing or new customers. If you sign up for an advance purchase of 4 news releases you will receive a 10 Percent discount. Regular price is $525 but your discounted price will be $472.50/each! Feel free to contact me about how AgNewsWire works and we’ll help you reach our comprehensive list of ag media.

AgWired and Energy. AgWired have also really kept us busy. Besides Cindy and me we’ve had 40 editors work for us and that includes interns, many of who are in high level jobs in ag media and agencies, and freelancers who have started their own companies. We can’t say how thankful and proud for all of them

So, that’s what’s on our minds as we contemplate the how/when/what and why of another year on the agriblogging highway.

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

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

In this episode I’m going to share some interviews from the NAFB Trade Talk about reactions from the recent presidential election. 

I’m going to include Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta Sr. Manager, Federal Government and Industry Relations; Brian Jennings, ACE CEO; Geoff Cooper, RFA CEO and Ethan Lane, NCBA, VP of Government Affairs.

Adding to these interviews, Cindy recently interviewed Kip Tom, Indiana farmer and served as the Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture during President Trump’s previous term. You can listen to his reactions here.

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

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. 

In this episode we’ll get a preview of the AgGateway Annual Conference that will be starting November 11th in Austin. I talked with Brent Kemp, President and CEO, about what AgGateway works to accomplish and what the schedule looks like. I’ll be there to take photos and collect some good interviews and session audio. I’ll be going straight from there to Kansas City for a day of the NAFB Convention before heading back to ZimmComm World Headquarters.

Looking over the last years that I’ve attended AgGateway meetings it seems to just continue to growing and refining the work they do.

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

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

In this episode I am going to share some audio from the recent Syngenta Media Summit 2024 that was held in the new crop protection facility in Greensboro, NC. I am grateful for the opportunity to be with a group of agricultural journalists and have personal time with Syngenta leadership. You’ll hear more about the new facility.

I have created a virtual newsroom on AgNewsWire that contains photos as well as interviews and other audio for ag media to use. I’ve picked out the welcome we had from Jeff Cecil, Head of North America Crop Protection Marketing, in the form of a one on one interview about advancing innovation for the US grower. After that you’ll hear closing comments from Vern Hawkins, Regional Director, North America President. He focused on advancing American agriculture. 

That’s the ZimmCast for now. Please let me know if you have ideas for a future podcast. Just email me at [email protected].

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

It’s time for the 2024 NAMA Fall Conference which will be held in Minneapolis, MN, October 14-16. The theme is “Fall Back” and you’ll hear why in my interview with Laura Rustmann, Director of Marketing and Sales, J.L. Farmakis, Inc. and Chair of the committee that is organizing the conference.

Cindy and I have enjoyed a few weeks without travel since the Farm Progress Show but things will get started again the beginning of October. I will not be able to attend the NAMA Fall Conference this year due to a conflict but we’re going to get a preview from Laura.

That’s the ZimmCast for now. Please let me know if you have ideas for a future podcast. Just email me at [email protected]. 

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

I’ve lost count of how many Farm Progress Shows I have attended but it’s a lot. This year in Boone, IA we had great weather and that’s not always the case. But it was also an opportunity to see friends as well as clients. I was only on site for Tuesday and half of Wednesday but I recorded 26 interviews that you can find on AgNewsWire in our virtual newsroom for the event.

So, speaking of clients and the fact that we’re always interested in what’s new in the world of agribusiness I’m going to share interviews with several companies. They include: Scott Nelson, Make Hay; Thad England, Groundwork Bioag; Craig Dick, Phospholutions; Scott Trbovich, Taranis and Steve Nicholson, Rabo AgriFinance. They’ll go in that order.

We post the ZimmCast on AgWired as the official podcast. We also post stories using other interviews as we have time so keep your eye out for them too.

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.

Although Cindy and I got a little break from the agriblogging highway things got busy again. In this episode I’m going to share a few interviews that have a focus on a new Farm Bill. What do you think? Is it still possible this year or will it be sometime in 2025? You will hear different thoughts from Ted McKinney, NASDA, Sonny Perdue, University of Georgia Chancellor, Representative Austin Scott, (R-GA) and Representative Frank Lucas, (R-OK).

After these interviews I’ll provide you with a preview of this year’s Ag Media Summit which will start August 3 through the 6th. This is the 25th AMS and it will be held in Kansas City, Missouri. I’ll be taking lots of photos so keep your eye out for them throughout the event and feel free to download and share.

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 getting a break from the agriblogging highway after last week’s AgGateway Mid-Year Meeting in Altoona, IA. Cindy and I have worked on our calendar through the end of the year and there are quite a few more places to be around the USA.

In this episode I have a conversation with Gardner Hatch, the new Executive Director of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. We have known Gardner for a long time and he is a card carrying member of the ZimmComm Golden Mic Club. And was the recipient of one of the first Golden Mic Awards at the Agri-Marketing Conference. So, let’s get started.

Gardner talks about why he chose to make this career move and the NAFB 10 year strategic plans and priorities.

That’s the ZimmCast for now. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening.

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

Cindy and I celebrated our 20th anniversary of ZimmComm at the Agri-Marketing Conference in KC, MO. We got to see and talk to many of our friends and clients and talk about the “old” days and what we think is on the horizon. We’ve needed to make changes, go in different directions and learn new skills as so much has changed, most especially just before and through the pandemic years. We’re looking ahead to the future discussing some new ideas and making some changes once again. 

In the meantime, I’ll be on my annual retreat the end of the week and right on to Washington, DC for The Future of Food & Farming: The Modern Celebration of Ag on the National Mall, working with AEM. After that I’ll be on the road to the AgGateway Mid-Year Meeting in Des Moines, IA.

So, let’s dive in to this episode with Karl Harker, AWIS and Scot Benson, Nitrogen Pulse. These companies are cooperating on tools for farmers to better manage their nitrogen use, tied into weather data. You can learn more about it in our discussion.

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