AgWired

Growers are facing many challenges this season, making it critical to protect yield potential and their bottom line in an environment defined by unpredictable weather and compounding disease risks. Syngenta is urging farmers to face those risks with a well-rounded approach. “My overarching message is don’t get caught up in just one disease and manage towards one, because I think ... Read More

The 2026 Agri-Marketing Conference is coming up next week. For a preview I talked with conference chair, David Jones, Bader Rutter. We run through a variety of questions about the theme for the conference, keynote speakers, best of NAMA, Connection Point, breakouts, awards and student competition. As the theme says, people are Hungry For More. Of course you can still ... Read More

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 ... Read More

With planting underway across the Midwest, Syngenta agronomist Matt Geiger is reminding growers not to cut corners on early-season weed management—even in a challenging farm economy. “Starting clean is step one,” Geiger said during an interview at the 2026 Commodity Classic in San Antonio. He noted that modern tillage equipment often fails to eliminate emerged waterhemp and Palmer amaranth, creating ... Read More

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman. We’ll have a final ZimmCast podcast at the end of the year. But in the meantime… I’m sharing an interview with Josh Turney, founder of Rooster and Roadrunner. I did ask if he’ll be starting another bird name company soon. You’ll have to listen to hear his answer. Roadrunner just recently ... Read More

In this special episode, host Frances Hayes sits down with Peter McCornick, Executive Director of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, as he concludes nearly a decade of leadership. This deep-dive conversation covers Peter’s distinguished career, from his early life on a farm in Scotland and pivotal international work in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, to what drew ... Read More

During a Monday round table with cabinet members, farmers and lawmakers, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make $12 billion available in one-time bridge payments to American farmers in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs. President Trump said the $12 billion represents a relatively small portion of what the United States ... Read More

BioLumic is expanding its light-activated seed trait platform into South America. Biolumic, which programs heritable seed traits using light, has announced steps to expand its Corn xTraits™ Licensing Program, including early-stage evaluations with GDM and a collaboration with Tropical Melhoramento & Genética (TMG), two of Brazil’s leading seed companies, along with regional seed production and nursery engagement with Gro Alliance. ... Read More

Syngenta’s PLINAZOLIN® technology has received registration from the Environmental Protection Agency and is now available for use, subject to state approvals. PLINAZOLIN technology will power five separate insecticide products for use in corn, cotton, vegetables, tree fruit, cereals and more. Growers can purchase the new active ingredient for the 2026 growing season as a seed treatment, soil-applied insecticide or foliar-applied ... Read More

The AgGateway annual meeting last month in Clearwater, Florida was a great time for members to get caught up on what the organization has accomplished in the past year. Chief Technology Officer Jim Wilson says a big focus of AgGateway in the past year has been the growth of the ADAPT Standard, which is being adopted throughout the industry. “We ... Read More

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 ... Read More

Six students from four different universities across the country were able to attend the recent AgGateway Annual Meeting in Clearwater, Florida to learn more about the many career opportunities that agriculture has to offer. AgGateway’s Gateway to Ag Careers program is sponsored by the AgCIO Roundtable with additional support from Syngenta. The students came from schools in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, ... Read More

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More

Syngenta is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, created in 2000 with the merger of Novartis and AstraZeneca, and built on a legacy extending back more than 250 years to the Swiss chemical company Geigy founded in 1758. Today, Syngenta Crop Protection includes a robust portfolio of approximately 37 seed treatments, 54 herbicides, 44 fungicides and 21 insecticides, with several ... Read More

Syngenta announced this week the opening of its CROPWISE™ AI-powered platform for farmers to third-party developers worldwide. The launch of the Cropwise Open Platform is designed to accelerate the digital transformation of agriculture by enabling innovators to integrate advanced agronomic models into new tools and applications — helping farmers benefit from smarter, connected agricultural technologies. New research from IPSOS, conducted ... Read More

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman. In this episode I’m going to share an interview with Matt Weeks, AgIntel Lead at AdFarm. We discuss the inaugural AgIntel Index Report. This will be a yearly report that dives into the trends and insights dominating the conversation in agriculture. This is information that matters to agri-marketers and ag leaders. ... Read More

The future of

AgGateway had a successful annual meeting last week in Clearwater, Florida to celebrate 20 years and work on building the future on two decades of achievement. Jeremy Wilson, who serves as AgGateway Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, as well as North American Director, says the conference was a little differently this year and it went great. “From my ... Read More

Well-known industry government relations specialist Mary Kay Thatcher provided a federal policy update for attendees at the 2025 AgGateway Annual Meeting. Much of Thatcher’s presentation focused on the trade and tariff policies of the Trump administration and the rapid-fire announcements of deals with different countries. “Just because something has been announced, the devil is often in the details, and we ... Read More