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.

So, let’s get started with my interview with Brent.

Listen to the episode here:
ZimmCast 759 - AgGateway Mid-Year Mtg and AI (14:15)

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 Chuck at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.

We hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

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Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins updated the House Agriculture Committee Thursday morning. “It is a vexing challenge that we thought we had beaten in the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately, that was wrong as the screwworm began to make its way back towards us in 2021. The way we defeated it before, you need about 400 million sterile flies per week to actually mate with the bad flies, sterilize them….Because over years, we had taken, we as a country, we as a hemisphere, had taken our eye off the ball thinking it was eradicated. We got down to only 100 million sterile flies in production a week in a facility in Panama.”

Rollins says the administration has fast-tracked a facility being built right now in Mission, Texas. “That facility will come online next year. When it does, it’ll produce about 300 million flies per week in addition to the 100 million from Panama. And then we outfitted an additional Mexican facility in Matapa for another 100 million,” said Rollins.

In the meantime, Rollins says they will be focused on trapping, surveillance, and treatment. She participated in a press call with USDA and state officials on immediate actions being taken.

“We have a unified incident command team with the Texas Animal Health Commission and have deployed APHIS as of yesterday immediately down to the area. We’ve established a 20 kilometer control area, a zone around the detection and implement quarantines, movement controls and surveillance in this area. We’ve expedited the targeted release of millions of sterile new world screw worm flies by immediately deploying 4 million as of yesterday, ground release chambers in the area in addition to the 4 million sterile flies per week already being released aerially in the area,” said Rollins.

She was joined by Dudley Hoskins, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; and APHIS Associate Administrator/NWS Directorate Rear Admiral Michael Schmoyer; as well as Dr. Bud Dinges, Texas Animal Health Commission Executive Director. Listen to their comments below.

RFA team at FEW with Cardinals Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith

RFA had a full lineup of events throughout the show, including featuring St. Louis Cardinals legend and Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith at their booth.

RFA Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs Troy Bredenkamp took part in the executive roundtable discussion while RFA Senior Vice President for Industry Relations and Market Development Robert White discussed California’s ethanol market in the afternoon.

Also presenting at FEW were Tad Hepner, RFA’s Vice President for Strategy and Innovation, and Justin Schultz, RFA Director of Environment, Health and Safety.

RFA at FEW Photo Album

Audio Interviews
RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper 7:53
RFA Senior VP, Government and Public Affairs Troy Bredenkamp 15:48
RFA Senior VP, Industry Relations and Market Development Robert White 12:25
RFA VP, Strategy and Innovation Tad Hepner 5:30
RFA Director of Environment, Health and Safety Justin Schultz 4:40

The launch marks a significant expansion of BarnTools’ role in livestock production. Already trusted for real-time monitoring across critical farm systems, including feed, water, power, temperature, and environmental conditions, BarnTools now brings biosecurity into the same connected operational view.

With Barn360, producers can manage important biosecurity information in the same BarnTalk app they already use to monitor environmental conditions, bringing more of the farm into one connected system.

“As livestock operations scale, producers need more than point solutions,” said Michael Hansen, CEO of BarnTools. “They need one connected system that shows what is happening across the operation, from feed and water to environment and biosecurity. Barn360 is the next step in that vision.”

Biosecurity is one of the most critical and difficult areas for livestock teams to manage consistently. Many operations still rely on paper logs, spreadsheets, and manual processes to track site visits, enforce downtime, and maintain compliance. While these systems require time and effort, they often leave gaps that go unnoticed until a disease event occurs.

Barn360 replaces those fragmented workflows with a connected system that brings visibility, consistency, and enforcement to daily biosecurity operations.

Barn360 enables producers and their teams to:
– Automatically track site-to-site movements
– Enforce biosecurity protocols and downtime in real time
– Validate site access through geo-fencing
– Maintain a single, auditable source of truth across all sites and visits
– Support team compliance, even in low-connectivity environments

Designed for integrators, veterinarians, service teams, and live production managers, Barn360 provides real-time visibility into who is on-site, where they have been, and whether they are compliant with biosecurity protocols.

“For a large livestock operation, the challenge is not just having biosecurity rules. It is making sure they are applied consistently across the entire network. Barn360 helps create that consistency while giving leadership better visibility into what is actually happening in the field.”
Mary Battrell, DVM
Director of Veterinary Services, Murphy Family Ventures

More importantly, Barn360 does this inside the same BarnTools system producers use to monitor critical farm conditions. That means biosecurity is no longer managed separately from the rest of the operation. It becomes part of the connected farm.

Unlike standalone biosecurity tools, Barn360 is built as part of the BarnTools platform. By connecting biosecurity with real-time monitoring across feed, water, power, and environmental systems, BarnTools gives producers a more complete view of farm operations in one place.

This integrated approach helps livestock teams manage risk, respond faster, and improve accountability without adding another disconnected system to their workflow.

Barn360 is included as part of BarnTools’ enterprise platform, giving producers access to biosecurity capabilities without additional per-animal or per-site costs.

The launch of Barn360 reflects a broader shift in how modern livestock operations are managed. Instead of adopting separate tools for individual problems, producers are moving toward unified systems that connect data, workflows, and decision-making across the full farm.

For BarnTools, that shift has been central to the company’s vision from the beginning: helping producers prevent losses, improve visibility, and manage increasingly complex operations with confidence.

Barn360 will be showcased at World Pork Expo, Booth V310, June 3–4, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa.

To learn more about Barn360, visit https://barntools.com/barn360.

About BarnTools
BarnTools provides real-time monitoring and operational software for livestock producers, helping farms prevent losses, improve efficiency, and scale with confidence. Its connected platform brings together feed, water, power, environmental monitoring, and biosecurity into a single system designed for modern swine and poultry operations.

Media Assets
Download logos, screenshots, and launch materials:
Barn360 Media Kit

Media Contact:
Jennifer Hirst
Head of Marketing, BarnTools
JHirst@Barntools.com | (949) 903-6340

The announcement comes as cotton producers face a fifth consecutive year of negative returns driven by rising input costs, trade distortions, and increasing competition from synthetic materials. As part of the plan, USDA will elevate the “Plant Not Plastic” initiative to encourage consumers to purchase products made with healthy natural American cotton fibers rather than synthetic plastic-based alternatives.

USDA forecasters estimate that producers could lose approximately $2.6 billion across 9 million planted acres during the upcoming crop year. Since 1980, the number of U.S. cotton gins has declined from 2,254 to 446, while domestic textile production facilities have sharply contracted over the last two decades.

Listen to Secretary Rollins’ announcement here:
Sec. Rollins announces cotton plan 3:42

As part of this collaboration, E15 is recognized as the “Official Fuel” of the KC Diamonds, connecting clean, affordable fuel with the energy and excitement of professional women’s athletics.

In this episode of The Ethanol Report podcast, we talk with KC Diamonds president Jeremy McDowell and RFA Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Market Development Robert White to lean more about the new league and how RFA and E15 are helping to support women’s professional sports.

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

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]]> https://agnewswire.com/2026/05/26/ethanol-report-on-kc-diamonds-sponsorship/feed/ 0 27758 noThe Renewable Fuels Association is proud to announce a new partnership with the Kansas City Diamonds, a founding team in the new Professional Softball League (PSL). With a 40-game season and national television coverage this partnership brings E15 to the forefront of a fast-growing sport and passionate fan base. As part of this collaboration, E15 is recognized as the “Official ...The Renewable Fuels Association is proud to announce a new partnership with the Kansas City Diamonds, a founding team in the new Professional Softball League (PSL). With a 40-game season and national television coverage this partnership brings E15 to the forefront of a fast-growing sport and passionate fan base. As part of this collaboration, E15 is recognized as the “Official ...audio, Ethanol, Ethanol Report, Podcasts, RFA https://agnewswire.com/2026/05/15/ethanol-report-on-e15-win-in-the-house/ Fri, 15 May 2026 12:16:07 +0000 https://agnewswire.com/?p=27754 The ethanol industry is re-energized this week after a bipartisan majority in the House passed long overdue legislation giving E15 a place at the pump year-round. But the job is still only half done and the focus now shifts to the Senate.

Renewable Fuels Association Senior VP, Government & Public Affairs, Troy Bredenkamp, discusses how ethanol supporters overcame challenges to finally get the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act over the finish line, and how work will begin immediately on the Senate side to deliver the bill to the president.

Ethanol Report 5-14-26 23:26

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

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]]> 27754 noThe ethanol industry is re-energized this week after a bipartisan majority in the House passed long overdue legislation giving E15 a place at the pump year-round. But the job is still only half done and the focus now shifts to the Senate. Renewable Fuels Association Senior VP, Government & Public Affairs, Troy Bredenkamp, discusses how ethanol supporters overcame challenges to ...The ethanol industry is re-energized this week after a bipartisan majority in the House passed long overdue legislation giving E15 a place at the pump year-round. But the job is still only half done and the focus now shifts to the Senate. Renewable Fuels Association Senior VP, Government & Public Affairs, Troy Bredenkamp, discusses how ethanol supporters overcame challenges to ...audio, Ethanol, Ethanol Report, Podcasts, RFA https://agnewswire.com/2026/05/15/ethanol-supporters-set-record-straight-on-e15/ Fri, 15 May 2026 12:10:04 +0000 https://agnewswire.com/?p=27751

Supporters of E15 legislation in Congress

Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), co-chair of the biofuels caucus and original sponsor of the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues at a press conference Tuesday urging Congress to lower prices at the pump for consumers and increase much-needed market access for ag producers by passing the bill that will allow year-round access to E15 nationwide.

During his remarks, Smith set the record straight by debunking E15 opponents’ false claims while encouraging his colleagues to support commonsense policy as opposed to political gamesmanship. “Our opponents claim this legislation is an unfunded mandate. That is simply false,” said Smith. “What it does is provide certainty and flexibility for retailers who choose to offer E15 during the remaining three months of the year. It expands consumer choice—it does not impose government mandates.”

“They say ‘E15 raises prices for consumers.’ When in reality, E15 does the opposite. In fact, it has proven to lower prices at the pump by 30 cents per gallon on average. At a time when families are already stretched thin, lower fuel costs matter, and that is exactly what E15 delivers.”

Smith was joined by National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower, along with U.S. Representatives Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), and Shontel Brown (D-OH). Budzinski stressed the bipartisan nature of the legislation. “I am calling on my colleagues – Republicans and Democrats alike – to come together and finally pass permanent, year-round E15 nationwide,” said Budzinski. “Let’s deliver certainty for our growers. Let’s deliver lower costs for consumers. Let’s strengthen American energy independence. And let’s show the American people that Congress is still capable of coming together to solve real problems.”

Listen to their remarks here:
E15 Congressional presser 27:40

]]> 27751 noCongressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), co-chair of the biofuels caucus and original sponsor of the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues at a press conference Tuesday urging Congress to lower prices at the pump for consumers and increase much-needed market access for ag producers by passing the bill that will allow year-round access ...Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), co-chair of the biofuels caucus and original sponsor of the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues at a press conference Tuesday urging Congress to lower prices at the pump for consumers and increase much-needed market access for ag producers by passing the bill that will allow year-round access ...audio, Ethanol, government https://agnewswire.com/2026/05/06/san-agrow-marks-major-u-s-milestone-with-california-registration-of-duralev-fungicide/ Wed, 06 May 2026 20:40:08 +0000 https://agnewswire.com/?p=27733 Expanded State Registrations Strengthen Commitment to Specialty Crop Growers

SAN Agrow announces that its innovative new product DURALEV, a biological fungicide and bactericide, is now registered for use in California ‒ marking a major milestone in the product’s U.S. launch. With this approval, DURALEV is now registered in 15 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, with additional registrations underway.

The California approval offers growers in one of the nation’s most diverse specialty crop markets a new disease management solution, and underscores SAN Agrow’s ongoing focus on providing effective, science-driven tools.

“California’s diverse specialty crop industry represents a vital segment for innovation,” said Jared P. Jensen, PhD, U.S. Technical Services Manager at SAN Agrow. “With DURALEV, we’re helping growers elevate their crops’ defenses through multiple modes of action, streamlined integration, and dependable disease protection.”

A Preventive, Systemic Approach to Disease Management
DURALEV is a systemic resistance inducer designed for preventive protection against plant diseases. Applied ahead of disease pressure, it activates crops’ natural defense mechanisms so plants can better withstand future bacterial and fungal attacks.

By incorporating DURALEV early in disease management programs and reapplying periodically, growers can maintain consistent protection and reduce the risk of disease establishment.

Broad-Spectrum Protection and Program Flexibility
DURALEV provides broad-spectrum protection against key bacterial and fungal diseases, including Powdery mildew, Downy mildew, Botrytis, and Alternaria. Its expansive label covers all major crop groups, offering growers unmatched versatility in program development.

The product’s easy-to-use formulation features broad tank mix compatibility and fits seamlessly into both conventional and organic production systems. Residue free prevention, combined with an excellent crop and worker safety profile, helps growers meet the practical and regulatory needs of modern fungicide programs.

A Three Way Approach to Fungicide Programs
The DURALEV registration strengthens SAN Agrow’s integrated fungicide portfolio, providing three complementary modes of action for comprehensive disease management:
· GARGOIL® a contact kill for insects, mite and disease control
· BOTECTOR® a biological fungicide that forms a protective barrier
· DURALEV® a systemic defense booster that activates plant resistance

Together, these products empower growers to build robust, resistance-conscious programs tailored to their crops, production systems, and local disease pressures.

###

About SAN Agrow
SAN Agrow is the crop protection business unit of SAN Group., is a global agricultural solutions company focused on biologicals, biostimulants, and crop protection technologies for sustainable production systems. Headquartered in Vista, California, SAN Agrow partners with growers across North America to deliver residue conscious tools that help manage weeds, diseases, and crop stress while supporting productivity and crop resilience.

Backed by scientific innovation, technical expertise, and field support, SAN Agrow works closely with PCAs, consultants, retailers, and growers to build practical programs that balance efficacy, crop safety, and economic return.

Media Contact
Megan Guarini |SAN Agrow US Marketing Manager
Email: megan.guarini@san-group.com
Website: www.san-agrow.com

]]> 27733 https://agnewswire.com/2026/05/05/summit-agro-usa-expands-prolivo-300sc-fungicide-label-to-apples-and-cherries/ Tue, 05 May 2026 13:00:33 +0000 https://agnewswire.com/?p=27725 DURHAM, NC (May 5, 2026) — Summit Agro USA today announced an expansion of the label for Prolivo 300SC Fungicide to include control of powdery mildew on apples and cherries broadening the product’s fit in high-value specialty crops. Apples and cherries grown in California and New York are not covered by the expanded label, however.

Powered by pyriofenone, Prolivo is a Group 50 fungicide that specializes in preventive control of powdery mildew, inhibiting both lesion formation and sporulation. Its differentiated performance profile includes excellent rainfastness and redistribution on the leaf surface and vapor activity, extending protection to untreated leaf and fruit surfaces.

“This expansion is important because apple and cherry growers need preventive tools that can help protect fruit quality before disease pressure escalates,” said Eric Tedford, R&D lead at Summit Agro USA. “Prolivo stands out for the combination of strong preventive activity, vapor activity and redistribution on the leaf surface, which can help growers protect more of the canopy and fruit during critical disease-management windows.”

The label expansion reflects Summit Agro USA’s continued focus on bringing differentiated, science-based crop protection solutions to specialty crop growers.

More information on Prolivo 300SC Fungicide, including the expanded label and directions for use, is available at www.summitagro-usa.com. Always read and follow label directions.

About Summit Agro USA
Summit Agro USA LLC, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, is focused on working to identify, develop, and deliver innovative BioPowered solutions that meet the needs of growers across the United States. Our products are available from crop protection retailers through our exclusive distributor partners: Helena Agri-Enterprises and Tenkoz member companies.

CONTACT
Evan Davies
ejdavies@cedar-shores.com

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