GROWMARK Brings Leadership to AgGateway
As one of North America’s agricultural cooperative systems, serving more than 250,000 individual farmers, GROWMARK is one of the most active companies involved in AgGateway.
GROWMARK Senior Agronomy Portfolio Technology Manager Zach Leiser says AgGateway’s work is critically important to what they are able to do for their farmer members. “Because our network of companies is so vast, we’ve got a lot of different colored equipment within companies, across companies, and we want to do everything we can to make sure that if we capture something in one piece of equipment, that we can easily transfer that to another one to be utilized for whatever operation needs to take place,” said Leiser during an interview at the recent AgGateway annual meeting.
Leiser has been personally involved at AgGateway over the years with field boundaries and the new Field Boundary: Obstacles working group. And so it’s trying to help better define what are the things that are going to impact that operation? And what can we do to help facilitate conversations to make sure that we’ve got the big OEM manufacturers working together so ultimately our lives become easier?”
GROWMARK has a number of staff members involved in AgGateway, including Jacob Crow, GROWMARK’s IT Portfolio Director, who was just elected Chair of the AgGateway Board of Directors at the annual meeting.
Listen to an interview with Leiser:
Zach Leiser, GROWMARK (4:54)
Animal Ag News 11/24
AgGateway Brings Students to Annual Meeting
L-R: William Leiva-Mercaod, Jenna Kirkland, Omar Abdelmawgoud, Patton Simbeck, Emma Koger, and Tristan Cravens
The following students participated in the 2025 Gateway to Ag Careers program:
· Omar Abdelmawgoud, Arizona State University
· Tristan Cravens, Illinois State University
· Jenna Kirkland, Arizona State University
· Emma Koger, Mississippi State University
· William Leiva-Mercaod, Iowa State University
· Patton Simbeck, Mississippi State University
Hear what they thought of the experience:
Interview with Gateway to Ag Careers Students (4:07)
Progressive Crop Solutions Launches 21AG
Agronomy consulting firm Progressive Crop Solutions has announced the launch of 21AG, an advanced data synthesis and action planning tool designed to solve the critical challenge of data fragmentation, enabling farmers to boost profitability and increase crop yields.
Available exclusively through Progressive Crop Solutions’ integrated consulting service, 21AG has the ability to compile all layers of agronomic data, including soil health and weather patterns, variety performance and application history, and study the complex interactions between them.
“The volume of data farmers collect is immense, but if that data doesn’t translate into clear, profitable action, it’s just noise,” said Lewis Stearns, Founder and Lead Agronomist at Progressive Crop Solutions. “21AG enables our team of agronomists to quickly arrive at the factors most important to improving your farm operation. Powerful software and data science is one piece, but developing a management plan and execution are just as important. Our agronomists are there every step of the way to oversee your path to success.”
21AG is designed for farmers across the United States and is available exclusively as part of a service package from Progressive Crop Solutions.
Industry Ag News 11/21
Precision Ag News 11/20
DWFI Podcast 47 – Crafting Compelling Science Communication
In this episode, host Frances Hayes sits down with Crystal Powers, DWFI and Nebraska Water Center’s water and cropping systems extension educator, to discuss why the most revolutionary science can only drive change if it’s communicated effectively. Crystal and her colleague, Ann Briggs, at the Nebraska Water Center, created the “Beyond the Data” workshop, which aims to transform researchers and conservation professionals from data presenters into compelling storytellers. We explore the critical skills scientists need today, including the importance of audience empathy and tackling the barriers created by academic jargon.
Crystal offers essential insights on communicating complex trade-offs in water management, building trust with the agricultural community and framing research on challenging topics. If you’re a researcher, practitioner or stakeholder in water and food security, this episode offers insights for ensuring your science moves beyond the lab and into real-world policy and action.
Listen here or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform:
DWFI podcast episode 47 37:00
The 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:
AgGateway Board Member from Brazil in Action
This year’s AgGateway Annual Meeting was a first for Marcelo Abreu of Venturus and he was pleased to be honored for his work for the organization in Brazil with the AgGateway in Action award for the Latin America Region.
“It was a surprise. I really didn’t know that I was going to be nominated,” said Abreu, who also was nominated this year to serve on the AgGateway Board of Directors.
Abreu also provided a presentation at the annual meeting on emerging technologies in agriculture from a Brazilian perspective.
“We do have a lot of projects related with data and related with artificial intelligence. I think that these are the most important projects that we do for the agribusiness in Brazil,” he said. “We are having nowadays a very good discussion about regulation of artificial intelligence that can impact a lot of areas including agribusiness and also we do have our old problem of connectivity in the farms, only one-third of the areas in Brazil have connectivity of 4G and 5G. So we do have a lot of challenges, but we also have have a lot of opportunities to make the digital agriculture to grow and to be more successful in Brazil too.”
Interview with Marcelo Abreu, Venturus – AgGateway Global Board Of Directors member from Brazil
AgGateway Global board member Marcelo Abreu, Venturur (5:55)
My Last MOJO
Yes. MOJO. Mobile Journalism Kit, whatever. I’ve had multiple ones over the years. This picture is the one I’ve been traveling with for many years of late. I’ve actually worn one of them out and replaced it by Think Tank Photo. But before then I had a larger one for two camera bodies and multiple lens. That was back in the days of shooting pics at INDYCAR and NASCAR races. I’ve shared lists of all my gear several times. But, I’m not going to do a comprehensive one now, but you can see a few key items that I’ve focused on in the last years.
First is my Nikon Zf mirrorless camera body with a Nikkor Z 24-200 lens. It’s my 2nd mirrorless camera and I keep learning more. I’ve got a Nikon Speedlight SB-700 and a Peak Design sliding strap. Then there is the Golden ZimmComm Microphone (Heil PR-20 – yes, it’s gold) and Zoom H4n Pro recorder. I use an old Sony PCM-M10 recorder only to record from sound mixers and mult boxes like general sessions, etc. They don’t make them anymore! I can’t leave out my iPhone 15 Pro because it shoots incredible photos and movies. And I can’t do anything without my MacBook Pro 14-inch. Oh, and of course, multiple adapters, battery chargers and cords and memory cards
Of course there are the ZimmComm Golden Mic Club membership cards!!
Here’s what my MOJO looked like in 2010.
So, my work at the AgGateway Annual Conference this month was my last one of the year and as we’ve announced, we will not be continuing this on-site work again. I can’t thank enough all the clients we’ve worked with in all kinds of venues, states and countries. I’ve made great friends and I couldn’t have learned what I have without so many people.