ZimmCast 758 - About ZimmComm

ZimmCast 761 - Biofueling Agriculture

A new study [https://fuelingagriculture.com/] from S&P Global and commissioned by U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action (USFRA), "Fueling Agriculture: Biofuels as the Catalyst," [https://fuelingagriculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/The-Report.pdf] 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).

ZimmCast 760 - Award to Harry Siemens

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. In this episode I have a very special guest. I haven't talked to him recently but we did quite a bit in the early days of AgWired. He's Harry Siemens and some of you may have heard or read his Siemens Says. He just received a very well deserved award and we'll talk about that too. The award was initiated by U.S. farm broadcasters Lynn Ketelsen of the Linder Farm Network, the late Orion Samuelson, and Max Armstrong, longtime voices in agricultural broadcasting and fellow members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB). Together, they sought to recognize Siemens' lifetime of contributions to agricultural journalism and his efforts to strengthen relationships between Canadian and American farmers. Throughout his career, Siemens has covered crop production, livestock, trade, transportation, weather, farm policy and rural life, earning the respect of farmers, agricultural leaders and fellow broadcasters across North America. That's the ZimmCast for now. If you have some exciting news in the agrimarketing world, feel free to contact me for the next episode. Just email at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.

ZimmCast 759 - AgGateway Mid-Year Mtg. and AI

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. In this episode I'm sharing my preview interview for the AgGateway Mid-Year Meeting with President/CEO, Brent Kemp. Additionally I've got a few comments regarding AI, or Artificial Intelligence, for those of you who haven't heard of it. But really, AI, is moving fast and besides it is a topic for the AgGateway meeting. I'm slow in producing a ZimmCast episode for several reasons. One is that I haven't been traveling for work. But additionally, I've done a little research about how AI has affected things like agricultural marketing and communications. Additionally, I did a post on AgWired titled "Safeguard the Human Person in Time of AI." I hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment. I focused on the encyclical letter published by Pope Leo. It's not just about AI but really is about people. With some AI research, as in ChatGPT, I looked in to the changes in using news releases. This is very important to ZimmComm since we have the oldest completely ag news release service, AgNewsWire. The information I found relates to all industries. Basically, we're seeing a change in how important news releases are with various other channels to reach customers. One point is the cost to send news releases which can be from $800 to $1,200 or more. Again, with AgNewsWire, we have a very clean list of contacts to send news releases and we still only charge $525. Additionally, we post the release on the AgNewsWire website, onto our AgWired website, social media channels and also our bi-weekly e-newsletters. Our open rate is significant and very high by industries standards. If you have any questions and comments or just want to chat, I'm always open and appreciate it. So, that's the ZimmCast for now. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

ZimmCast 758 - About ZimmComm

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. In this episode the tables have been turned. We thought it would be fun for Laura McNamara, one of our very early freelancers, to interview Cindy and me about the how, what and why we created ZimmComm and all its elements. We've had people ask about this over the years, but as you will hear, from the start it has continued to develop and pivot when needed. So, listen in and let us know what you think. As many know, Cindy and I took a big step to stop traveling this year. We're really happy to be working with Laura as some of the events we've worked on for years still want to use good photography and interviews to make content with a target audience of ag journalists. So, this step toward retirement for most people is as easy as just walking away and going fishing. But when you've built a business over 20-plus years it's a little more difficult. We're still working at the ZimmComm World Headquarters so stay tuned. That's the ZimmCast for now. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

ZimmCast 757 - 2026 National Ethanol Conference

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. In this episode of the podcast I'm going to share some audio from the National Ethanol Conference [https://agnewswire.com/2026-national-ethanol-conference/]. While Laura McNamara worked with Syngenta Seeds at Commodity Classic [https://agnewswire.com/2026/02/26/2026-commodity-classic-with-syngenta/], which overlapped with the NEC, yours truly drove to Orlando and took photos, interviews and session audio in a custom virtual ag newsroom on AgNewsWire.com. [https://agnewswire.com/2026-national-ethanol-conference/] To start out with, Patrice Banks, Founder of Girls Auto Clinic [https://www.girlsautoclinic.com], who spoke at the NEC Women's Leadership Breakfast, also spoke at one of the sessions. Hers was titled, Cultivating a New Crop of Ethanol Advocates. Renewable Fuels Association [https://ethanolrfa.org] staff member, Kendra Coulson, Marketing and Membership Manager, helps with educating new audiences and she has worked with Patrice and her audience. On a different topic RFA has scholarships [https://ethanolrfa.org/media-and-news/category/news-releases/article/2026/02/ten-awarded-scholarships-to-attend-national-ethanol-conference] given out at the NEC. I thought you might like to hear how one winner of the Young Professionals Network scholarship is Verena Hopkins. If you would like to hear more about what is going on in the renewable fuels world and specifically, ethanol, check out our virtual newsroom [https://agnewswire.com/2026-national-ethanol-conference/]. We've got plenty more and besides the newsroom you can see stories from it on Energy.AgWired.com [https://energy.agwired.com] and the latest episode of The Ethanol Report. [https://energy.agwired.com/2026/02/26/ethanol-report-from-2026-nec/] That's the ZimmCast for now. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.