Rick Tolman, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, has been named the 2008 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, will be presented at the Opening General Session of the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Leading The Charge,” April 17, 2008 in Kansas City, MO. The award honors outstanding leaders in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas who exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry.

As chief executive officer of the National Corn Growers Association, Tolman has been a driving force in solidifying the demand for corn. The growing ethanol market is a real win for corn farmers and rural America. Today, ethanol has become a symbol of corn grower success. And it is the efforts surrounding the many successes of corn producers in 2007 that distinguish Rick among his peers. Acting Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Conner, had characterized the results of Congress in 2007 as fairly lackluster – except in agriculture. The energy bill, Water Resources Development Act, free trade agreements and developing the farm bill are examples of legislation Congress passed and paid attention to in 2007. And NCGA helped lead the charge for all of them–benefiting corn growers and all of agriculture.

With foresight and planning, Rick led the NCGA Corn Board in its strategic plan in mid-2006 to call for production of 15 billion bushels of corn, of which 5 billion bushels can be used for the production of 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015. This blueprint was instrumental in the historic energy legislation signed by President George W. Bush in December 2007. The bill specifically calls for 15 billion gallons of ethanol from corn. Rick’s planning extends to NCGA action teams and committees, which are charged with implementing and executing the priorities of NCGA member states. Each team and committee creates three-year business plans to help chart the course for the current year and two years ahead. These plans have been instrumental in NCGA’s many accomplishments.

In his role as CEO of NCGA, Rick takes seriously his obligation as a leader to educate and inform about the contribution of farmers to U.S. agriculture. Many examples of this leadership exist, such as NCGA’s participation in key initiatives that promote the benefits of ethanol, including spearheading a study on the positive impact of ethanol development to rural communities; leading the charge in dispelling food versus fuel myths to consumers, agriculture and Capitol Hill; participating in multiple speaking engagements both in and out of agriculture to educate audiences on the environmental, economic and energy benefits of ethanol; pushing for continual studies and development of dried distillers grains; and, most importantly, successfully seeking an increase in the production of starch-based ethanol in the renewable fuels standard.

NCGA’s strength comes from its grassroots and state affiliates. In 2007, NCGA welcomed two additions to its federation. New affiliates, the Alabama Wheat and Feed Grains Commission and the Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Board, help NCGA expand its influence. Today 48 state affiliates make up the federation of states that make up the National Corn Growers Association: 25 state grower associations and 23 state checkoff associations.

Commodity Classic, the combined tradeshow and convention of NCGA and the American Soybean Association brought the National Association of Wheat Growers under its tent in 2007, thanks in large part of Rick’s leadership. The addition of wheat growers serves agribusiness, media and growers who attend Classic to reach diverse audiences, gain useful networking and learn the latest developments in growing, harvesting and marketing their crops. Agribusiness had responded favorably to this addition.

Reaching out to agribusiness and industry is a key priority of Rick’s. He participated on NAMA’s Agribusiness Forum panel in November 2006 and has spoken numerous times to the St. Louis Agribusiness Club. And he encourages industry participation by staff members. Several NCGA staff are active members of the St. Louis Agribusiness Club and NAMA, among others, giving presentations at meetings and volunteering to judge NAMA’s annual awards.

Dave Rhylander, Marketing Lead, Delta & Pine Land has been honored with the NAMA Marketer of the Year award. The award will be presented during the Second General Session of the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Leading The Charge” on Thursday, April 17 at 11:00 a.m. in Kansas City and is sponsored by AgriMarketing magazine.

NAMA recognizes its active members with senior management of marketing and/or sales responsibilities with the NAMA Marketer of the Year award. This award is NAMA’s most prestigious honor awarded to active members of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing.

A 32-year veteran of Monsanto, Dave Rhylander is recognized as a visionary leader and highly innovative marketer not only within the ranks of his own company but also throughout the agribusiness industry. As U.S. Director of Traits Marketing for Monsanto, his creativity, sales and marketing skills have played a major role in driving the adoption of new trait technologies that have had a significant, positive impact on American farmers. Through aggressive marketing communication campaigns, grower on-farm trials and strategic pricing programs, Monsanto continues to be the trait leader within the industry. Dave has moved on to the Marketing Lead for Delta and Pine Land which is a new business unit of Monsanto.

In annual grower surveys, YieldGard and Roundup Ready Corn 2 technology has consistently received satisfaction ratings by more than 90 percent of those surveyed. “This shows we are not only getting broad farmer trial, but we are also meeting their established expectation at a much higher level than alternative trait providers,” explains Jim Zimmer, Vice President of U.S. Branded Business for Monsanto. “This is due to Dave’s leadership in always educating farmers on the real benefits Monsanto traits deliver.” Zimmer adds, “Dave Rhylander leads by example. He has a tremendous sense of urgency to put new products in the marketplace to help farmers.”

Under Rhylander’s direction, Monsanto’s technology leadership was put on display for thousands of farmers to see at the 2006 Farm Progress Show in Amana, Iowa. More than 6,500 farmers toured the Showcase to see 25 demonstration plots including crops like drought-tolerant corn, new YieldGard VT technology corn and Vistive™ low-linolenic soybeans. For the first time, several of Monsanto’s pipeline technologies that had been previously confined to labs and research plots were put on public display to give farmers a glimpse of new and future technologies that represent their “Roadmap to Success.”

Dave Rhylander’s expertise and leadership are also recognized throughout the industry. In order to implement many of the Word of Mouth strategies, he successfully employed the cooperation of industry leaders such as Dr. Mike Owen of Iowa State University, Dr. Bryan Young of Southern IL University, the American Soybean Association and other university and industry leaders. He also obtained high-level, third party consultant cooperation to assist in educating growers across the Corn Belt.

Under Rhylander’s leadership, past WOMM strategies have yielded a high return on investment (ROI) for Monsanto. In 2007, Monsanto’s marketing initiatives, led by Rhylander, netted a high ROI and increased its share in the corn traits market significantly.

In 2008 Dave Rhylander will be leading many WOMM strategies in the Delta Pine Land business to increase their market footprint. Because of Dave Rhylander’s strong support and vision, Monsanto is a pioneer and leader in the use of Word of Mouth Marketing strategies throughout the agricultural marketplace. He deserves to be recognized as NAMA’s Marketer of the Year because of the credible, grower-friendly, high-impact and measurable return on investment these WOMM strategies have generated for producer participants as well as Monsanto’s business.

The deadline for submitting nominations for the Agribusiness Leader and NAMA Marketer of the Year awards is 5:00 p.m. today, January 15.

The Agribusiness Leader of the Year award honors an outstanding leader in agribusiness, education, government service or other related areas. Solicited from senior level position holders in private, public or academic service, nominees should exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry. Nominees do not need to be NAMA members.

If you would like to nominate someone for the Agribusiness Leader of the Year award, please fill out the nomination form on-line now at http://www.nama.org/awards/agribusinessform.htm or download the Agribusiness Leader Nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format by visiting,
http://www.nama.org/awards/agbusapplication.pdf.

For more information on the Agribusiness Leader of the Year award visit, http://www.nama.org/awards/agribusinessleader.htm.

The NAMA Marketer of the Year award is the most prestigious honor awarded to an active member of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing. Nominees are solicited from agribusiness and related companies with overall marketing and/or sales responsibilities. Nominees must be NAMA members.

If you are interested in nominating someone for the NAMA Marketer of the Year award, please fill out the nomination form on-line now at http://www.nama.org/awards/namamarketerform.htm or download the NAMA Marketer of the Year nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format by visiting, http://www.nama.org/awards/mktrapplication.pdf.

For more information on the NAMA Marketer of the Year Award, visit, http://www.nama.org/awards/namamarketer.htm.

Don’t forget to submit your nominations for the Agribusiness Leader and NAMA Marketer of the Year awards by January 15, 2008!

Agribusiness Leader of the Year
NAMA named Dale R. Ludwig, executive director/CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, the 2007 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. The award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, was presented at the Opening General Session of the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Think Big!,” April 12, 2007 in Dallas.

The Agribusiness Leader of the Year award honors an outstanding leader in agribusiness, education, government service or other related areas. Solicited from senior level position holders in private, public or academic service, nominees should exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry. Nominees do not need to be NAMA members.

If you would like to nominate someone for the Agribusiness Leader of the Year award, please fill out the nomination form on-line now at http://www.nama.org/awards/agribusinessform.htm or download the Agribusiness Leader Nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format by visiting,
http://www.nama.org/awards/agbusapplication.pdf.

For more information on the Agribusiness Leader of the Year award visit, http://www.nama.org/awards/agribusinessleader.htm.

NAMA Marketer of the Year
Phil Johnson, Chief Operating Officer at Colle+McVoy, was honored with the 2007 NAMA Marketer of the Year award. The award was presented during the Second General Session of the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Think Big!” on Thursday, April 12, in Dallas and was sponsored by AgriMarketing magazine.

The NAMA Marketer of the Year award is the most prestigious honor awarded to an active member of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing. Nominees are solicited from agribusiness and related companies with overall marketing and/or sales responsibilities. Nominees must be NAMA members.

If you are interested in nominating someone for the NAMA Marketer of the Year award, please fill out the nomination form on-line now at http://www.nama.org/awards/namamarketerform.htm or download the NAMA Marketer of the Year nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format by visiting, http://www.nama.org/awards/mktrapplication.pdf.

For more information on the NAMA Marketer of the Year Award, visit, http://www.nama.org/awards/namamarketer.htm.

Registration for the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City is now open!

Our Opening General Session for the conference is The Sticky Factor with Dan Heath. Dan is a Consultant to the Policy Programs for the Aspen Institute. He is the co-author of the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, which has been a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller. Dan is also a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of “making ideas stick” with organizations such as Microsoft, Nestle, the American Heart Association, Nissan, and Macy’s. In addition, we will also honor this year’s recipient of the Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award (nominations due by January 15).

Our Second General Session is We Are More Powerful Than Me with Barry Libert. Barry is the CEO of Shared Insights, LLC. Shared Insights owns and operates business communities that enable enterprises and their professionals to communicate and collaborate in order to make better decisions based on the experience of peers, experts and leading industry vendors.

Libert was previously employed by Arthur Andersen, John Hancock and McKinsey & Company. He has also founded and sold two successful businesses that he co-founded. Mr. Libert has written two business books on the value of information and relationships; published numerous articles including those that have been published in Newsweek, Smart Money, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and has appeared on CNN, CNBC and FNN. He has spoken at more than 100 events worldwide, to more than 20,000 people, on the value of information and relationships in business. At this session we will also recognize the NAMA Marketer of the Year and the recipients of the NAMA Leader Awards.

More information on the conference will be available soon…keep checking the conference web site at www.nama.org/amc.

To register for the conference now, visit http://www.nama.org/amc/register.html.

Hotel Information
The Hyatt Regency Crown Center is now taking reservations for the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 16-18, 2008 in Kansas City.

The hotel deadline for making reservations is March 25, 2008. Reservations made after this date are subject to higher rates and potential unavailability. Make sure you mention “NAMA” when making reservations. All reservation requests will require a credit card guarantee or one night’s deposit. Deposits will be refunded by the hotel for rooms cancelled more than three (3) days prior to arrival.

Room rates for the conference are:

$129 single
$129 double
$154 triple
$179 quad

When making your reservations please specify whether you are an agri-marketing professional or a student as there are different room blocks set up for each.

Professionals – to make your hotel reservations on-line visit, http://crowncenter.hyatt.com/groupbooking/mkcrknaag2008.

Students – to make your hotel reservations on-line visit, http://crowncenter.hyatt.com/groupbooking/mkcrknaas2008.

The deadline for submitting nominations for the Agribusiness Leader and NAMA Marketer of the Year awards is January 15. Both awards will be presented at the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 16-18 in Kansas City.

Agribusiness Leader of the Year
The Agribusiness Leader of the Year award recognizes leadership achievement in agriculture and the food and fiber industry. This award honors an outstanding leader in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas. Solicited from senior level position holders in private, public or academic service, nominees should exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry. Nominees do not need to be NAMA members.

Fill out the nomination form on-line now at http://www.nama.org/awards/agribusinessform.htm. Or download the Agribusiness Leader Nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format by visiting, http://www.nama.org/awards/agbusapplication.pdf.

NAMA Marketer of the Year
NAMA recognizes its active members with senior management of marketing and/or sales responsibilities with the NAMA Marketer of the Year award. This award is the most prestigious honor awarded to an active member of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing directly to ag producers. Nominees are solicited from agribusiness and related companies with overall marketing and/or sales responsibilities. Nominees MUST be NAMA members.

Fill out the nomination form on-line now at http://www.nama.org/awards/namamarketerform.htm or download the NAMA Marketer of the Year nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format by visiting, http://www.nama.org/awards/mktrapplication.pdf.

The recipients of the NAMA Professional Development Awards of Excellence were honored at a luncheon on Wednesday, November 14, at the Agribusiness Forum.

The Professional Development Awards of Excellence recognize NAMA members for achievement in the areas of Marketing Communications, Product/Species Management, Public Relations and Sales.

This year, NAMA honored Pete Kovac, Nicholson Kovac, with the marketing communications award; Greg Smith, Padilla Speer Beardsley, with the award of excellence in public relations; Klaas Okkinga, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, was honored with the product/species management award; and Bill Heffron, recently retired from Bock & Associates, with the honors in sales.

Congratulations to the honorees of this year’s NAMA Professional Development Awards of Excellence!