Meet Our First Agri-Blogger Intern

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Cindy

We are so pleased with the response to our new agri-blogging internship program. It was tough to choose just one for the summer semester, but we finally decided on Maggie Seiler – a sophomore at Kansas State University dual majoring in agricultural communications and journalism and animal sciences and industry.

Maggie grew up on a dairy operation outside of Wichita and has worked for the Kansas Dairy Association and the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, as well as serving as an Agricultural Ambassador and an officer for the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. She is very interested in the agriculture use of social media.

“Blogging and the use of social media platforms is becoming an increasingly important part of journalism and the agricultural industry,” Maggie said in her application. “I really appreciate the ability of online platforms and blogs to provide the vital information from agriculture industry meeting to members of the community that cannot physically travel to events. ZimmComm is a company that stays on the cutting-edge of industry developments sharing them with producers. I would really like to be a part of this movement and especially focus on increasing my knowledge of using online platforms to reach out to agriculturists.”

We are not wasting any time getting Maggie on the agri-blogging highway. She will be joining Chuck next week for the 2013 Alltech Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky and you can expect to meet her at other events this summer.

Welcome, Maggie!

What’s New on AgNewsWire

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Cindy

As we announced last week at NAMA, our AgNewsWire site is now THE place to go to get content you might have missed.

Since that announcement less than a week ago, here is what we have added:

Ag Workforce Coalition press conference on the Immigration Bill – audio
Fuels America press conference on sustainability from farm to fiber to fuel – audio
Becker Underwood and BASF media tour – interviews and photos
2013 Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference – interviews and photos
Chicken Media Summit – interviews and photos

All content is available for media use FREE of charge. If you want to give us credit, that’s fine, but not necessary. We just want to be your source for ag news content when you need it. Please consider subscribing to the RSS feed for AgNewsWire so you will be notified by email whenever new content is added.

AgNewsWire – Ag Media’s Online Ag News Service

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Melissa

ZimmComm New Media, LLC has expanded its AgNewsWire.com website to serve as a new agricultural media content service for reporters, companies, organizations and individuals seeking high quality photos and audio from industry events and concerning current issues.

“We generate so much content on our agricultural and renewable energy websites that we decided to create one place for all of it to make it easier for people in the industry to locate and utilize,” said ZimmComm New Media president Chuck Zimmerman. “Last year we covered nearly 70 different industry events, posted more than 1200 audio files and placed nearly 20,000 high resolution photos in Flickr albums. All of that content is available for anyone to download and use free of charge.”

AgNewsWire.com will now have links to all the audio, photos and video that ZimmComm compiles at events, for podcasts, news conferences and more. In addition, AgNewsWire will also continue to be an agricultural news release distribution service as it has been since it was introduced in 2006.

Continue reading →

ZimmComm Announces Agri-Blogging Internships

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Talia

ZimmComm New Media is now taking applications for students in the agricultural communications field to attend and learn how to “agri-blog” some of the most important industry events held every year. It has been years since we worked with Monsanto on student blogging opportunities at Commodity Classic and we miss the experience of working with budding agrimarketing professionals. So we decided to do something about that.

The opportunities will include all-expense paid trips to one or more industry events where students will assist in the compiling of photos, audio and video and posting of activities on pertinent websites. Interns will learn and develop the use of tools, techniques and technology to gather and distribute information through various social media channels. Per-diem and college credits may also be available.

Continue reading →

Find ZimmComm at 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Chuck

ZimmComm New Media will be forging new frontiers once again at the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference. Here’s where you’ll find us in the Connection Point. We’ll be at booth 402. Yeah, booth numbers don’t always make it easy to find. Just follow the arrow. We’ll have an announcement out soon about a very cool booth giveaway and of course there will be something new from ZimmComm announced at this year’s show.

Isn’t it odd that we have no problem accepting we must upgrade software and replace old technology, but have such a hard time upgrading our thinking?

And all too often, we get too comfortable with “the way it’s always been done” rather than exploring new ways to find solutions and ideas.

Well, we’re going to change all that in April…The speakers we have lined up for the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference are each pioneers in their respective fields. Prepare to have your eyes opened and your opinions challenged by internationally known thought leaders ready to share their groundbreaking ideas with you.

One Stop for Event Audio and Photos

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Cindy

2013 has already been a busy year for ZimmComm – the last couple of weeks especially. We already have 12 new photo albums for this year!

Because our events may be posted on different websites, and just because of the sheer volume of content we are generating that we want to share, we are working on consolidating event content on our AgNewsWire site. We have a couple of events already posted there – with links to photo albums, posts, categories, audio and even video. We want to make it easier for media, or anyone interested, to be able to locate and utilize the content we create.

2013 National Ethanol Conference
2013 National Biodiesel Conference
2013 Cattle Industry Conference and NCBA Trade Show

It’s a work in progress – what do you think? Useful or not?

E-Versions of 2012 ZimmComm Photo Books

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Cindy

While Congress was busy wasting taxpayer dollars over the holiday, I was busy making the annual photo books that we do for some of our clients. I love doing these books and we have always used Blurb to make them and this year they have added the option of making E-books!

This is really cool because you can also add audio and video files, although I did not use that feature this year because they have to be in a special format and I had already spent all of my allotted time on the print versions. But, we did make them available for free download – so check it out (order via the Related Editions link).

We have been doing photo books for New Holland, John Deere, and BASF since 2008 and added Boehringer Ingelheim, Renewable Fuels Association and GROWMARK along the way. Others that we have done in the past include Novus, AG CONNECT Expo, and Farm Foundation. Wish I could do them for every one every year but each one takes me a full day to do!

Where in the World Was AgWired

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Chuck

We set records at ZimmComm New Media in every way you can imagine in 2012. This includes how many places we visited on the agriblogging highway. Here’s a list which was covered by yours truly along with Cindy, Jamie and Joanna. It’s 67 different events in one year! Did we see you at any of these places/events?

January
Starting off the year looking for a house in Pensacola, Florida and did all of our travel for the month from the beach, going to –

Honolulu for the AFBF Annual Mtg.
Jacksonville for a NAMA Exec Comm mtg.
Orlando with FMC for the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
Des Moines – Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit
Atlanta with Novus for International Poultry Expo
Nashville with Cattlemen’s Beef Board and NCBA for Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show

February
Returned to central Missouri after making an offer on a house just north of Pensacola and had a busy month of travel to –

Orlando for National Biodiesel Conference
Bettandorf, Iowa in Pursuit of Maximum Yields with FS GreenPlan Solutions
Collinsville, Illinois in Pursuit of Maximum Yields with FS GreenPlan Solutions
Louisville with AgLeader, Fastline, FMC and New Holland for National Farm Machinery Show
Orlando with Renewable Fuels Association for National Ethanol Conference
Nashville for Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum
Nashville for BASF Science Behind Future of Weed Control

March and April
Getting ready to re-locate world headquarters to the Florida panhandle in between trips to –

Nashville with New Holland, BASF and John Deere for Commodity Classic
Washington DC with ASTA and Agri-Pulse for National Ag Day
Denver for BIVI Swine Health Seminar
Charleston, SC for Ag Relations Council annual meeting
Various locations in Illinois on GROWMARK media tour
Kansas City for NAMA
New Holland, PA for New Holland Media Event

May and June
Getting unpacked, settled in and used to traveling through Atlanta to get anywhere –

Arlington, VA with NCBA and USB for Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Meeting
Lexington for Alltech International Symposium
Mississippi Delta with Agrotain for CTIC Conservation in Action Tour
Indianapolis with NCGA for National Corn Utilization Technology Conference
Chicago for BASF Ag Solutions Media Summit
Minneapolis for Fuel Ethanol Workshop
Des Moines with BIVI for World Pork Expo
Washington DC for ASTA annual meeting
Minneapolis for NAMA Exec. Comm. mtg.
Des Moines for John Deere FarmSight Tech Summit

July and August
May have been our busiest months ever –

Indian Creek Watershed Illinois with AGROTAIN for CTIC field tour
Vincent, Iowa for Wyffles Hybrids Corn Strategies
Ames, Iowa for FMC Anthem Field Plot Tours
Indianapolis with John Deere for International Precision Ag Conference
Panama City Beach for Southern Peanut Growers Conference
RTP, NC for Bayer CropScience Greenhouse 5 opening
Chicagoland Speedway with Illinois corn Growers for NASCAR race
Sioux Falls, SD for Raven Innovation Summit
Denver for Cattle Industry Summer conference
Ames, IA for visit to Ag Leader Technology Headquarters
Albuquerque with FMC for Ag Media Summit
Detroit for USB Biobased Stakeholders Summit
Little Rock, Ark for AgCareers HR Roundtable
Omaha for American Coalition for Ethanol 25th annual meeting
Wrightsville Beach, NC for BIVI Swine Health Seminar
Sweden for International Federation of Agricultural Journalists congress
Collinsville, IL for Bayer CropScience Respect the Rotation field day
Kansas City for NAMA Boot Camp and AgChat Agvocacy 2.0
Boone, IA with AgLeader, New Holland, Monsanto and John Deere for Farm Progress Show
Chicago for GROWMARK annual meeting

September through December
Quieter than the previous two months but still on the road quite a bit -

Chicagoland Speedway with Illinois Corn Growers for NASCAR
Minneapolis for NAMA Fall conference
Madison, WI with Charleston Orwig and New Holland for World Dairy Expo
New Orleans with RFA for Congress for Automotive Repair and Service
Des Moines with Elanco for World Food Prize
Tulare, CA for O.H. Kruse dealer appreciations
Minneapolis with RFA for Export Exchange
Indianapolis for Agronomics Conference and NSFMRA
Kansas City with BASF and FMC for NAFB
New York City with USFRA for Food Dialogues
Kansas City with BIVI for PRRS Seminar
Savannah, GA with BASF for NAAA annual convention
Chicago for ASTA CSS 2012 and Seed Expo

Merry Christmas from ZimmComm New Media

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Chuck

Have a Sweet Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Cindy

Of the many foods we have to be thankful for in this nation, I’ll bet there are lots of people who are thankful every day for the gift of chocolate! Oh yeah!

This is an image of our sweet Thanksgiving greetings sent this year to some of our clients. Hopefully most received them before leaving for the holiday, but if not, it will be waiting for you at your desk on Monday. Some other clients will be receiving a sweet bag of Florida citrus next week. We want you to know how much we appreciate not only your business, but your friendship as well.

We also are very grateful for the hundreds of other business associates and AgWired readers that we count as our friends. Wish we could send everyone a whole bushel of Florida citrus and sweet chocolate to let you know how much we appreciate you! You are all in our prayers of gratitude this holiday and we wish you the sweetest joys of the season!

AgWired App Update

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Chuck

The AgWired App for iOS has been updated. Did you update yours? Or perhaps you don’t have our app for your device yet. You can find it in the Apple App Store as well as Google Play.

The AgWired App brings you all of the ZimmComm News Network content that includes AgWired as well as PrecisionPays.com, DomesticFuel.com and WorldDairyDiary.com. You can follow us on Twitter in the app and see our latest photos and videos.

This is our third update of our app to account for new devices like the iPhone 5 and we hope you’ll enjoy it. If you’re going to the NAFB convention this week, the AgWired App is a great way to keep up with our coverage. So regardless of your device (sorry Blackberry folks) get a free app that is simple and brings us to you whenever and wherever you are!

Apple iTunes Store
Google Play

ZimmComm Moves to Joyent Cloud

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Chuck

For several years now ZimmComm has enjoyed the web hosting services of the industry pioneer, Joyent. Why did we choose Joyent (originally TextDrive)? Because they not only provided state of the art hosting services and technology but seemed to embody that same willingness to try something new that we have. We have never been sorry.

This weekend we took another step forward with Joyent as we moved to the new Joyent Cloud.

Why constrain your ideas using yesterday’s cloud architecture and infrastructure? Build reliable and resilient applications on a high-performance cloud infrastructure service that powers many of the best mobile, social, gaming and e-commerce enterprises in the industry.

Joyent Cloud provides the essential features to develop, launch and scale web and mobile applications. Our high-performance cloud is designed to improve the productivity and success of application development teams and administrators. Rely upon the stability and reliability of Joyent to create your next innovation.

These folks have taken another big step forward with their move to the next innovation in cloud hosting. So we’re proud to be on their client list along with LinkedIn and Adobe!

But as good as the Joyent Cloud is we couldn’t do it without the Robert, the ZimmComm webmaster! Robert moved us without any disruptions or problems. He’s the best when it comes to not only what you see on our websites but also what you don’t see. So thanks to Robert and Joyent. Looking forward to many more years together.

Swamp People

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Chuck

It was time for a break so we took it. Cindy and I spent the weekend going back to our journalistic roots in Gainesville, FL. The University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications, held a reunion weekend which included lunch with the faculty, tours of the college, a reception and a game day tailgate on the lawn outside the college. After getting a tour we walked around and saw our old dorms and visited the church where we were married 32 years ago!

We visited with two of our former teachers, one of whom is still active with a weekly radio show. We also saw a couple of people who attended the college at the same time we did. I took quite a few photos and put them into an online album to share.

Game day at The Swamp was very hot and we finished the game at the home of some friends we had not seen in years. The Gators rolled and so it was a great weekend of activities and getting to take a little time off from the busiest summer in ZimmComm history. But it’s back to business. I’ll be traveling to the new NAMA Fall Conference and you can count on AgWired coverage of this event in its new format.

How to Subscribe to AgWired

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Chuck

It’s been a while since I’ve shared different ways you can get your dose of AgWired. Back when we introduced AgWired Mobile a lot of folks were worried about their costly texting plans. Now we’ve mostly got unlimited text plans (right?) so it’s not as big a concern. So one way you can get your AgWired is via our text service – AgWired Mobile. Just text “agwired” to 46786.

Some other ways you might want to be in the know via Agwired include:

AgWired App for iOS and Android
AgWired Widget for your website (currently on 44 websites)
AgWired RSS Feed – use your favorite feed reader like Google Reader
AgWired on Twitter – Follow us!
AgWired on Facebook – Like us!

Of course you can always just leave a tab on your browser open to AgWired.com. That’s easy too.

Baby Blogger Born

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Cindy

We are so happy to announce the arrival of Harper Jae Slagle, new daughter of our contributing editor Melissa Slagle and husband Nate. She was born at 8:17 am on August 1. Little Harper also has a proud big brother, Braden.

So, Melissa is going to be taking a little time off from her regular duties here, although she is so organized that she worked ahead and you will probably see some posts from her yet.

Congrats to the Slagle family and welcome to the world, little Harper Jae!

Looking Ahead in July

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Chuck

We hope you had a great 4th of July holiday. Back to work now, right? Well some people are just calling it a long holiday weekend . . . This was the best photo I could get out of my iPhone last night at the Pensacola fireworks btw.

The ZimmComm team is gearing up for a busy summer on the agriblogging highway. Some of the events you can find us at this month include the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Tour, Wyffels Field Day, FMC Plot Tour, International Precision Agriculture Conference, Southern Peanut Growers Conference, American Ethanol 225 and STP 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, Raven Innovation Summit and the Cattle Industry Summer Conference.

We’re looking forward to seeing many of you at one of these events!

Re-Locating ZimmComm World Headquarters

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Chuck

This is a view to get used to. Pensacola Beach on a pretty weekend day.

In case you didn’t already know, the ZimmComm team selected this area to re-locate ZimmComm World Headquarters. We’ll actually be at a Cantonment address which is a north side burb of Pensacola. It’s just a short drive to this photo location though!

So, over the next two weeks the ZimmComm team will be very busy getting the move completed. Pardon our “dust” in the meantime although we’ll be online every day. We’re from the Sunshine State and love the Show Me State but it’s time to get back “home.” And in case you’re wondering, this doesn’t mean any changes to ZimmComm New Media as you know it. We’ll just be closer to the beach and to an airport!

Be AgWired Appy at NAMA

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Cindy

Our theme at the 2012 National Agri-Marketing Association conference is “Don’t Worry, Be Appy!”

Our AgWired app, sponsored by Raven Industries, is almost two years old now – available for both iPhone and Android users – yet we continue to get new downloads every day and people tell us they use it all the time. It’s a handy way to check the latest posts on all of our websites with just a few clicks. Even those folks who have Blackberries or some other type of phone often download the app to use on their iPad or iPod Touch.

afbf golden plow So, in honor of our app, our giveaway this year is the cool “Digi-Clean” handy wipe for all types of screens – from cell phones to cameras to iPads and laptops. What is really cool about this tiny little screen cleaner is that it sticks to your device, then unsticks when you want to use it and re-sticks again! They come in several sizes from REALLY tiny to almost 3.5″ wide, but we went for the tablet size that is still small enough for the phone, but big enough to be used on a good sized laptop screen.

So come on by booth #412 this week at the NAMA conference in Kansas City and get yours. Chuck is already there for NAMA business stuff, but I will be heading that way tomorrow with our youngest lovely daughter Caitlin to help us out this year.

We’ll be “appy” to see you there!