Monsanto lends support to agricultural leaders.

Monsanto Co., St. Louis, presented a check for $50,000 to the Agricultural Leadership of Tomorrow (ALOT) Foundation during the 2004 Missouri Governor's Conference on Agriculture. ALOT is a two-year adult leadership program, including nine three-day sessions designed to enable participants to fully understand the diversity of Missouri agriculture and those involved in it. In addition, the group spends one week in Washington D.C. meeting with U.S. agriculture leaders and two weeks abroad in a country significant to Missouri agriculture--be it a customer, competitor or emerging market. "We would like to recognize that ALOT has been very successful at developing rural adult leaders in Missouri," says John Raines, Monsanto's vice president of marketing. "These leaders serve across the state helping Missouri agriculture, their communities, their churches and in public service as elected and appointed officials." The past 10 classes of the ALOT program have produced 278 alumni; among the notable participants are a U.S. Congressman, 11 members of the Missouri legislature, a federal prosecutor and nine current Farm Bureau presidents.