Press Releases

Delta and Pine Land Company (DLP) and Monsanto Company (MTC), announced today the start-up of a new joint venture cotton planting seed delinting facility owned by D&PL China Pte. Ltd. (D&PL China) and the Hebei Provincial Seed Industry Group Corporation. D&PL China is an 80 percent owned subsidiary of D&M International, a 50/50 partnership of DLP and Monsanto. The remaining 20 percent of D&PL China is owned by AgroGen Pte. Ltd., a company owned by the Singapore government.

Completion of construction and start-up of this modern cotton planting seed delinting facility is an important milestone for the joint venture. Located in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China ("PRC"), this new facility is the largest and most technologically advanced in China. When operating at design capacity, this delinting operation can produce cotton planting seed to sow two million acres. In the initial year of operation, assuming normal turnout, Hebei farmers should have quantities of Deltapine planting seed with the "Bollgard(R)" gene to plant approximately 500,000 acres in the spring of 1998.

The new joint venture will produce, condition and market varieties of cotton planting seed developed by DLP containing the "Bollgard" gene and/or other technologies from Monsanto. Deltapine varieties with "Bollgard" have been tested in the PRC for the last three years, with excellent results.

The new joint venture company, Hebei Ji Dai Cotton Seed Technology Company Ltd, is the first cotton planting seed joint venture in China formed with foreign investment in cooperation with the People's Republic of China. D&PL China owns two-thirds of the new joint venture and one- third is owned by the Hebei Province investor.

Delta and Pine Land Company is a commercial breeder, producer and marketer of cotton planting seed. Headquartered in Scott, Mississippi with multiple offices in six states and several foreign countries, DLP also breeds, produces and markets soybean planting seed. DLP common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DLP"

Monsanto Company, based in St. Louis, is a global leader in agricultural biotechnology and in the development and marketing of value added food, and fiber crops as well as crop protection products, food ingredients and pharmaceuticals.

Contact:
Tom Jagodinski
Delta and Pine Land Company
+1 (601) 74245 1 8
or
Gary F. Barton
Monsanto Company
+1 (314) 694-7233

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