All About Spuds and Politics

Chuck Zimmerman

In this week’s program we will meet the CEO’s of the National Potato Council and the United States Potato Board. I met both of these guys while covering the Potato Expo last week for my first time. Let’s start our with John Keeling, CEO of the National Potato Council. We focused on potato policy issues which as you might guess …

Ag Groups, Audio, Potato, ZimmCast

Hot Dog & Sausage King

Chuck Zimmerman

His real title is President of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. He’s Eric Mittenthal. But we need a much better title for him and perhaps you could suggest one. Eric is taking over the position from the “Queen of Wien” herself, Janet Riley. Both also work for the North American Meat Institute which oversees the NHDSC. Riley will …

Ag Groups, Audio, Meat, ZimmCast

A Thirsty Land Update

Chuck Zimmerman

Early in 2015 documentary film maker Conrad Weaver got into the field to start his latest project, Thirsty Land. He has been in states from Kansas to California filming the drought situation and meeting with many farmers to learn about the effect the drought has been having on rural communities. This morning I spoke with Conrad to find out how …

Audio, Sustainability, Water, ZimmCast

ZimmCast on LibertyLink Campaign

Cindy Zimmerman

If you have been listening to farm radio at all in the last couple of months you have probably heard the Real Yield radio spots that have been running featuring real farmers from around the soybean producing part of the country talking about their experience with the Bayer CropScience LibertyLink system. In this edition of the ZimmCast, we talk with …

Audio, Bayer, Soybean, ZimmCast

ZimmCast on AgVocating with Bayer CropScience

Cindy Zimmerman

Welcome to ZimmCast number 495! Wow, just five more until we hit the big 5-00! This week’s ZimmCast is from last week’s American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) CSS 2015 and Seed Expo and it’s about AgVocating, a word that has become a part of the agricultural dictionary in the past couple of years and has a pretty obvious meaning combining …

Agribusiness, ASTA, Audio, Bayer, ZimmCast

Wrap-up of #ARA2015 by President/CEO

Chuck Zimmerman

Palm Desert, CA is a place you really have to want to go to. It is beautiful but can take some effort to travel to. But apparently a lot of Agricultural Retailers Association members really wanted to attend their annual conference. According to Daren Coppock, ARA President/CEO, attendance was strong. Much stronger than they even hoped for. In my last …

Ag Groups, ARA, Audio, ZimmCast

ARA Performance. Precision. Passion. Preview.

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s time to get back on the agriblogging highway with a trip to the 2015 Agricultural Retailers Association Conference & Expo. The theme is Performance. Precision. Passion. We’re going to discover how performance, precision and passion shapes success through presentations, networking and exhibits at this event for ag retailers and suppliers. You can still attend if you would like and …

Ag Groups, ARA, Audio, ZimmCast

New NAFB Officers

Chuck Zimmerman

Congratulations to the new slate of National Association of Farm Broadcasting officers and board members elected during the convention last week. President: Brian Winnekins, WRDN Radio, Wisconsin President Elect: Tony St. James, KDDD and KFLP Radio, Texas Vice President: Tom Cassidy, Ag Radio Network, New York South Region VP: Lorrie Boyer, KSIR Radio, Colorado West Region VP: Sabrina Hill, AgNet …

Audio, Media, NAFB, ZimmCast

The Elephant in the Cornfield

Chuck Zimmerman

With the title, “The Elephant in the Cornfield,” Chris Clayton’s first book draws you in just to find out what it’s all about. Chris is the policy editor for DTN/The Progressive Farmer and an issue near and dear to his heart is climate change. I share that interest and was able to sit down with him at the NAFB convention …

Audio, Farm Policy, Media, ZimmCast

Bayer’s #Thankful4Ag Surpasses Goal

Chuck Zimmerman

Bayer CropScience has smashed another goal for their annual #Thankful4Ag campaign. In this week’s program I talk with Jeff Donald about the program and its progress. Jeff says that last year the program had a goal of donating 200,000 meals to hungry people via Feeding America. That goal was broken and this year it is 330,000 by tomorrow October 31st. …

Agribusiness, Audio, Bayer, ZimmCast