ZimmCast 718 - Grand Opening of the AIC

ZimmCast

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

Last week the Ag Innovation Campus held its grand opening in Crookston, MN. You can see lots of photos and interviews in the virtual newsroom I published on AgNewsWire.com. I’m going to share some of those interviews in the episode.

Before getting to the AIC facility I met a group of farmers and other ag leaders in Fargo, ND to tour the Northern Crops Institute. This is a collaborative effort among Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota to support the promotion and market development of crops grown in this four-state region and it is situated on the campus of North Dakota State University, in Fargo. I’ll share my interview with Mark Jirik, Director, who will describe the unique work they do there.

After that we got on a bus and traveled to the Riverview Waukon Dairy where I met David Yost who will provide an overview of the large and very impressive facility they have built.

Then we moved on to Crookston, MN to the Ag Innovation Campus. We had presentations from a variety of people who have played a part in the success of reaching phase one of the facility and a ribbon cutting. I talked with several leaders about the work that the AIC will do to deliver crops and processing technologies from bench top to commercialization. Think of the term, crush facility, and you’ll hear more about this staring with Tom Slunecka, Acting AIC CEO. Next we’ll hear from Mike Skaug, AIC Board Member. Finally in this episode you can hear from the AIC Plant Manger, Kent Meyers.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.