ZimmCast

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 communications efforts, especially reaching out to the media.

So, let's move on in this first ZimmCast episode of 2021 with a conversation with AWIS Weather Services and one of the founders, Karl Harker. IDK about you but I definitely open my mobile weather apps more often than any other. But I've always been fascinated by the weather and when it comes to farming, getting reliable forecasting is critical in decision making. AWIS specializes in custom forecasting and consultation. Let's learn about what they're doing.

I want to thank AWIS for letting us help promote their services to the agribusiness sector.

That's the ZimmCast for this week. Thank you for listening.

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.