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.