…Veteran agribusiness leader brings 30+ years of leadership experience to Meristem’s effort to help growers produce more bushels for less.
Veteran ag industry leader David Schumacher has joined the senior management team at Meristem Crop Performance as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Schumacher will now apply his deep experience in sales, marketing, and product development to accelerate Meristem’s efforts to drive farm business success and boost innovation all across the U.S.
“We are so excited to have Dave sign on with Meristem,” said Mitch Eviston, Meristem Founder and CEO in making the announcement. “He is uniquely qualified to lead this team of all-stars that we’ve assembled to serve more and more farmers with Meristem’s growing product portfolio.”
Schumacher has more than 30 years of diverse experience leading teams both in the U.S. and globally. He is widely known for delivering growth through vision, strategy, and execution: especially when it comes to improving the distribution process for crop inputs.
“I’ve worked with Dave off and on in different roles throughout my career,” says Eviston. “He has exactly the right experience, business skills, and dedication we need at Meristem Crop Performance to build out our dealer network and our efficiency as we take it to next level.”
Schumacher grew up on the family dairy farm in Illinois, where he learned how to work and developed a love for agriculture. “I loved our farm, and I figured out that I wanted to serve the wider world of agriculture,” he says. “So I went to college, studied ag and began my career at Ciba-Geigy (now Syngenta). That’s when I first met Mitch Eviston – we both started with Ciba-Geigy on the same day.” He earned his bachelor’s in ag business from Southern Illinois University and later added a master’s in business administration (MBA) from Butler University.
Schumacher comes to Meristem after nearly seven years at Helm Agro, where he first served as president of Helm Agro US, where he led the overall crop protection business in the US, building a portfolio of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides to help growers and retailers drive strong performance and profitability. He then was elevated to Helm Agro Executive Vice President and became responsible for growing the company globally.
Earlier in his career, Schumacher was VP of Marketing for Winfield United, with P&L accountability for a multi-billion-dollar crop protection business including herbicide, insecticide, fungicide, seed treatment, adjuvants, micronutrients, plant growth regulators, and bio stimulants. Later in his time with Winfield, he was tapped to serve as Vice President & General Manager of a joint venture between Winfield parent company Land O’Lakes, Inc. and Villa Corp Protection, Johannesburg, South Africa. He says it was then he felt his eyes were opened to the pressing global need for grain.
“I realized how important it was for us to figure out how to raise more grain. When we don’t have enough production in the world, there are many in Africa who can’t eat.” Schumacher says that drives his desire to help farmers make the most of every seed they plant on every acre they farm. “First, it means a better life for those farm families,” he says, “then it also contributes to the effort to feed people who need to eat all around the world.” Schumacher says that’s why he’s eager to start with Meristem.
“I think biologicals are the next big driver farmers will use to improve their yields and profitability to the benefit of their families and the world at large,” says Schumacher. “Meristem is on the cutting edge of delivering results with biologicals because of the BIO-CAPSULE, their patented delivery system. I’m very excited to see how these new combinations of biologicals and synthetics will positively impact farmer results and feed more people worldwide.”
Schumacher and his wife Michelle currently live in Minnesota and have three grown children: Isaac, Lauren and Blake. In late 2024, the family celebrated Lauren’s marriage to Marcus Johnson in Florida. Dave and Michelle also recently marked their own 30th wedding anniversary.
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