Dear Friends,
We are grateful this year more than ever for the wonderful friends we have made over the years and our travels.
May God bless you with all good things in abundance during this holiday season, the new year and beyond.
Peace and glad tidings,
Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman
Meghan Grebner, NAFB Farm Broadcaster of the Year
Meghan Grebner was named Farm Broadcaster of the Year. Grebner, an 18-year media veteran, is broadcast supervisor at Brownfield Ag News, where she oversees the quality and content of the network’s news and radio programming.
C.J. Miller, assistant news director for Hoosier Ag Today and Michigan Ag Today, received the Horizon Award, which annually recognizes an outstanding broadcaster in his or her first five years of professional broadcasting work.
Winning the prestigious Doan Award was Michelle Rook, national news and market reporter for Ag Day TV and U.S. Farm Report at Farm Journal.
Gale Cunningham and Janet Adkison
· Herb Plambeck Award, recognizing top creative farm broadcast advertising, went to Mick Kjar, AgNews 890 (single ad category) for the North Dakota Livestock Alliance Annual Summit; and Susan Littlefield, American Ag Network (series), for Farming Minds: Mental Health in Agriculture.
· Broadcast Contest Awards (Audio) first-place winners: Marketcast (Susan Littlefield, American Ag Network); Newscast (Bryce Doeschot, Nebraska); Feature (Bryce Doeschot, Nebraska); Interview (Parker James).
· Broadcast Contest Awards (Video): First-place winners: Marketcast (AgDay TV); Newscast (Tyne Morgan); Feature (Tyne Morgan); Interview (AgDay TV).
· NAFB News Service Awards: Editor’s Choice (Joanna Guza, Midwest Communications); Editor’s Choice for Exceptional Merit (Jesse Allen, Agriculture of America); Excellence in Ag Reporting (Parker James, Your Ag Network).
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)
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)
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.
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.
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