About the award.

AgriMarketing magazine's "Product of the Year" was developed to recognize the outstanding new technology, and the inventive marketing activities that support it, that has been introduced into the agricultural marketplace.

Past winners read like the ag industry's Hall of Fame. Their technology has made North American agriculture the most prolific and efficient producer of feed, food, fiber, and fuel.

Entries were submitted by companies offering products/services to agricultural producers and were judged by prominent, independent ag industry participants. Judging criteria are:

Benefit and value added to marketplace, 35%; Strategic marketing approach, including understanding of market needs, and sales, marketing, and communication activities, 25%; Market environment, including share of market, competition, growth in market share, 20%; Industry recognition--awards and honors received by the product/service, 10%; and Overall summary of the product/service's significance, 10%.

by the AgriMarketing Editors

2006 PRODUCT OF THE YEAR JUDGES

Jerry Warner, AFM, VP/Chief Management Officer, Farmers National Co., Omaha, NE

Warner oversees Farmer National Co.'s farm management division and staff of 70 professional farm managers who manage over 3,600 farms consisting of over 1.2 million acres in 21 states. Other services include real estate sales, appraisals, consultation, commodity marketing, insurance, oil and gas management, conservation and recreation services and mapping technology.

He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dave Coppess, VP Mktg, Heartland Co-op, West Des Moines, IA, Chairman, Agricultural Retailers Assoc (ARA)

Headquartered in West Des Moines, IA, Heartland Co-op is a value-added, full-service cooperative owned by more than 5,000 farmer-members serving more than 33 communities throughout central and east-central Iowa.

Heartland is a large grain shipper with ag input sales of seed, fertilizer, crop protection products, feed, and petroleum serving approximately 1.5 million crop acres.

He is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Lynn Henderson, Publisher, AgriMarketing magazine, Chesterfield, MO

Henderson has been involved in agricultural communications for more than 30 years where he has had continual contact with agribusinesses and others in the ag industry.

He is the former Pres/CEO of Doane Agricultural Services Co. Last year, he formed Henderson Communications LLC and purchased AgriMarketing.

He is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Billy McLawhorn, CPCC-I, McLawhorn Crop Services, Cove City, NC

McLawhorn Crop Services, Inc. (MCSI) was founded by Billy McLawhom in 1982 to provide soil and crop management advisory services to producers in eastern North Carolina. McLawhorn's firm was a key leader in the reintroduction of cotton production to the area and has continued to help producers develop new markets and innovative cropping systems for a number of crops, through intensive management advice on more than 25,000 acres.

MCSI has five full-time and three part-time employees and utilizes a number of college students as interns during the summer growing season.

He is a past President of the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants (NAICC), and currently serves as President of the NAICC's educational foundation, the FEAE.

He is a graduate of North Carolina State University.

PAST WINNERS

2004:  Deere s 60 Series Combine
2003:  Syngenta's Callisto
       herbicide
2000:  E-business/the Internet
1999:  CaseIH's Magnum tractor
1998:  NK Brand Bt seed corn
1997:  Roundup Ready soybean
       trait