Passing of Dan Crummett
Another good friend in agricultural marketing and communications, Dan Crummett, has passed. I did a post back in 2005 when he became president of the AAEA. In this picture he’s seen here presenting a recognition plaque to Susan Davis for her service as AAEA president. I can only say that I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Dan, especially when he had started a blog, which made him one of the early bloggers in the business. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
Here is some information from Lessiter Media:
Lessiter Media is mourning the loss of one of its most valuable contributing editors, Dan Crummett, who passed away unexpectedly this week at his home in Coyle, Okla. He was 78.
No-Till Farmer Editor Frank Lessiter said Dan made major contributions the magazine’s content for many years, first as a freelance writer before taking an expanded role at Lessiter Media in 2023 as a contributing editor.
Just recently, Crummett won regional and national honors from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for an article on how soil testing is evolving into ‘predictive agronomy.’
“Many times he told me and others that working with Lessiter Media was one of the most enjoyable parts of his long-term ag writing career,” Lessiter said.
Dan also contributed content for No-Till Farmer, Strip-Till Farmer, Cover Crop Strategies, Farm Equipment, Farm Innovations and Precision Farming Dealer. In recent years, he’s also contributed as technical editor for Ag Equipment Intelligence’s custom research offering.
You can find his obituary here.
Scanit Technologies Launches Iowa SporeWarn™ Network
Scanit Technologies has launched the Iowa SporeWarn™ Network to help growers get advance notice on airborne crop diseases such as corn tar spot and soybean white mold that may be heading to their fields.
“We’ve monitored challenging disease environments all over the globe, including millions of corn and soybean acres, and each season we are listening to growers, agronomists, and university experts to understand their needs from an airborne pathogen monitoring service,” said Jaydeep Rane, CEO and Co-Founder of Scanit Technologies. “The Iowa SporeWarn Network is us putting that knowledge to work.”
At the heart of the network is SporeCam™, Scanit’s AI-enabled, autonomous airborne pathogen-detection platform. Deployed in fields throughout central Iowa, each SporeCam sensor acts like a smoke alarm for disease — sampling the air around the clock and catching the invisible spores that signal a building risk of outbreak.
Iowa SporeWarn Network subscribers can access reports refreshed daily through an online portal that features summarized pathogen pressure data for each disease, a rolling 7-day history, risk and trend analysis, and heat maps to visualize pressure across the area. There is also a daily morning report delivered by text message that provides a quick read on changes in pathogen presence and disease risk.
Deployed with ag services partner MaxAg, the new service continuously tracks local airborne pathogen pressure ahead of disease outbreaks with the ability to change how agronomists scout for disease and help farmers be proactive with treatment. The SporeWarn Network service includes plain-language reports, local context from the field, and blog articles that explain what the numbers mean for spray and scouting decisions.
“Charts on a screen only go so far for a grower’s understanding,” said Ryan French, Market Development & Sales Lead at Scanit Technologies. “Having a partner like MaxAg, with their agronomists who know these fields and walk them often, is what transforms pathogen readings into supportive advice for their customers. The ground-level insight they provide adds valuable context to the SporeWarn Network data.”
Access to the Iowa SporeWarn Network is available now for the 2026 growing season. Through July 15, growers can subscribe for season-long access for only $60 — half the regular $120 price — by entering code IOWA26 at signup. This is a one-time fee with no recurring charges. Growers can preview the network and sign up at www.scanittech.com/sporewarn. Scanit also offers a SporeWarn Business Tier for agribusinesses, retailers, NGOs, drone operators, and other organizations seeking network-scale pathogen intelligence for the growers they serve.
Listen to an interview with Rane and French to learn more:
Scanit Technologies - Jaydeep Rane and Ryan French 17:37
Passing of Mary-Dell Chilton
Mary-Dell Chilton, 2013 World Food Prize
“Millions of farmers all over the world have Dr. Chilton to thank for protecting their crops from disease, pests and climate shocks,” said Tom Vilsack, CEO, World Food Prize Foundation. “Her brilliant innovations have revolutionized agriculture. She will be greatly missed, but her legacy continues to guide those who are bringing technology to bear on the great challenges we face in feeding the world.”
Dr. Chilton led a team of university researchers in producing the first transgenic plant in the late 1970s and her research ultimately resulted in the discovery of novel methods to improve a plant’s ability to control pests and manage extreme environmental conditions. She began her corporate career in 1983 with CIBA-Geigy Corporation, a legacy company of Syngenta, and later founded its first biotechnology research lab. Under her leadership, Syngenta was the first company to commercialize a biotech trait in corn (Bt). Dr. Chilton retired in 2018, but her legacy of innovation will continue through the Syngenta Seeds’ R&D program.
In 2006, Dr. Chilton was only 67 but she said at the time she was already “way past” retirement age. She finally officially retired in 2018 at age 79 after a 35-year career with the company. You can listen to an interview with her from a Syngenta media day in 2006 visiting the biotech research lab dedicated to her.
Dr. Mary-Dell Chilton 2006 interviewDWFI Podcast 53 – Validating the Future of Carbon Markets
Five years ago, the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) was tapped by the U.S. Department of Energy to tackle a critical challenge: scientifically validating carbon sequestration in Midwest corn and soybean production.
With this $3 million project now in its final 120-day closeout phase, DWFI Director of Research Christopher Neale discusses this initiative at the intersection of energy, agriculture and policy. He shares insights with Frances Hayes, DWFI Director of Communications and Public Relations, into how the team translated rigorous field-level measurements into tools that bring credibility to carbon credit markets, discussing what carbon credits are, the importance of data-driven policy and how these markets can be a tool for producers.
DWFI podcast episode 53 26:29The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska was founded with the mission to have a lasting and significant impact on achieving more food security with less pressure on scarce water resources by conducting scientific and policy research, using the research results to inform policy makers, and sharing knowledge through education and communication.
How to subscribe:
Grounded in Ag and AgCareers Create Ag Onboarding Academy
Grounded in AgTM and AgCareers have partnered to create Ag Onboarding Academy to address the experience and market knowledge gap that many employees and new hires in the industry today have since fewer have lived on farms, studied agriculture in college or worked in the industry.
“Our latest analysis indicates nearly 40 percent of AgCareers.com’s job applicants do not have an ag-based education, and 30 percent of them are not currently working in agriculture,” said Bonnie Johnson, Marketing & Communications Manager, AgCareers. “By expanding access to onboarding resources, we can help employers enhance the experience for employees and strengthen their teams over time.”
“Good onboarding is one of the simplest and most effective ways to help someone feel welcome, confident and capable in a new role,” said Janice Person, founder of Grounded in Ag. “Helping people understand and appreciate agriculture and the farmers many of us serve is the focus of our programming. Participants hear directly from trusted farmers and experts who impart expertise in the business, farm practices and culture as they deliver the lessons. This collaboration with AgCareers makes practical training tools more accessible so more businesses can add that industry lens, improve understanding, and set employees up for success.”
Audio soundbite from Janice Person (:56)
Person will also be speaking about upskilling at the AgCareers Agriculture and Food Roundtable Conference this summer, where workforce development, retention, and employee readiness will be among the topics of discussion.
The Ag Onboarding Academy features lessons from farmers and ag professionals, as well as course combinations that provide foundational knowledge about agriculture and farming. All courses are delivered via videos (web & app), which are paired with downloadables, quizzes and vetted resources.
There are additional packages available via Grounded in Ag that provide greater depth of knowledge by focusing on specific commodities. A free preview is available for people interested in learning more.
Ag Media Summit Photo Albums
How about a look at the past with two decades of Ag Media Summit photos! A real blast from the past. We get requests for pics of different people or they just want one but don’t know where to look. Flickr is the way.
One of the features we like about Flickr is that we can take all the albums from a particular annual event or all of the ones that a certain company contracted to be their photographer. They call it Collections and that’s what the image is for AMS.
Just click on the image or in this post and you can see them and open them. Flickr photos are simple to download. Just click on the picture you want, look at the down arrow on bottom right and select the size to download it. See. Simple.
I’m going to miss Ag Media Summit this year but I will be keeping my eye on all the activity. I hope you have a great one.
ZimmCast 761 – Biofueling Agriculture
American agriculture is at a crossroads today, but biofuels could point the way to a brighter future, according to a recent study from S&P Global and commissioned by U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action (USFRA).
“Fueling Agriculture: Biofuels as the Catalyst,” finds that biofuels have the potential to restore long-term profitability to American farms and drive investment in rural communities; unlock demand for sustainable feedstocks, creating a market that rewards farmers for pioneering modern farm practices; and strengthen food, economic and energy security on a global scale. It could also help motivate the U.S. Senate to pass legislation allowing year-round, nationwide sales of E15 (15% ethanol-blended fuel).
In this episode of the ZimmCast, hear from USFRA CEO Kevin Burkum; USFRA vice chairman and Maryland farmer Chip Bowling; Kevin Lindemer, S&P Global Energy; Kelsey Barnes, USDA Senior Advisor for Rural Development and Biofuels; Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Tina Smith (D-MN).
Listen to the episode here:
ZimmCast 761 - Biofueling Agriculture (25:30)
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Precision Ag News 6/25
Ag Communicators Network Announces Award Winners
The Agricultural Communicators Network (ACN) will recognize several members with top honors next month during the 2026 Agricultural Media Summit (AMS), July 19-21 in St. Louis, Missouri.
ACN has announced that Den Gardner and Pam Smith will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, the organization’s highest recognition for members whose careers have left a lasting mark on agricultural communications. Dr. Albert Culbreath will receive the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award, which honors an individual outside the profession whose work has significantly advanced agriculture.
“Den, Pam and Dr. Culbreath represent the very best of what our profession and what agricultural communications stand for,” said Joy Crosby, ACN president. “Den and Pam have shaped agricultural communications for generations of members, and Dr. Culbreath’s research has made a real difference in the lives of farmers. We can’t wait to celebrate all three of them in St. Louis.”
Den Gardner has devoted more than five decades to agricultural and green-industry communications as a member of ACN (formerly the American Agricultural Editors’ Association) since 1975. He began his career as an agricultural reporter and editor, including serving as editor of Farm Industry News, Ag Retailer Magazine, and Minnesota Agriculture, before leading the Ag/Turf division of Ceres Communications and founding Gardner & Gardner Communications in 1995. He served as executive director of AAEA from 2000 to 2016 and served on the AAEA board during the development of the Ag Media Summit.
Pamela Smith, crops editor at DTN/Progressive Farmer since 2012, has spent nearly 50 years telling the stories that matter most to farmers. Her career began at Prairie Farmer in 1977 and continued at Farm Journal from 1983 to 2012. A member of AAEA/ACN for more than four decades, Smith has volunteered on numerous committees, served as a membership recruiter and participated in International Federation of Agricultural Journalists events.
Dr. Albert Culbreath, research plant pathologist at the University of Georgia, is recognized worldwide for his work on the ecology, epidemiology and control of thrips and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). When TSWV threatened to destroy the Southeast’s peanut crop in the early 1990s, Culbreath helped lead the multidisciplinary team that developed the Spotted Wilt Risk Index — now known as Peanut Rx — an integrated pest management tool that is still updated annually and credited with saving the peanut industry.
ACN members and friends throughout the industry are encouraged to attend AMS next month and personally congratulate Den, Pam and Dr. Culbreath on these well-deserved honors.