St. Louis, Missouri and Los Angeles, California
April 3, 2002

Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Ceres, Inc. today announced an important product discovery and development collaboration focused on applying genomics technologies to provide improvements in certain agricultural crops.

"Our new alliance with Ceres provides us access to a proprietary knowledge base that will accelerate Monsanto's product pipeline. By marrying the complementary genomics capabilities of Ceres with the product development capabilities of Monsanto, we will be in a position to deliver additional value to farmers worldwide," said Hendrik Verfaillie, chief executive officer of Monsanto.

Walter De Logi, chief executive officer of Ceres, said, "Monsanto is an ideal partner for Ceres because it is a leader in providing biotechnology-based agricultural products to the world's farmers. Monsanto has the resources to give Ceres' technology the widest possible distribution. Furthermore, we share a vision of providing abundant food and a healthy environment around the world."

Under the collaboration, Monsanto will acquire rights to Ceres technologies in certain crops and applications in exchange for payments over several years. Ceres will receive additional payments subject to meeting specified objectives for developing additional related technology, as part of its continuing commitment to genomics-based product discovery. Monsanto will also fund a jointly implemented research program and has made a minority equity investment in Ceres. Expected payments to Ceres under the collaboration are $137 million over several years plus potential royalties.

As part of the collaboration, Monsanto and Ceres have agreed to make technologies accessible to farmers in developing countries, including non-profit humanitarian applications not served by commercial markets or research and development investments. This innovative feature of the collaboration reflects the commitment of both companies to bring the benefits of science and technology to society through public-private partnerships to improve subsistence crops, in addition to the commercial development of products around the world.

Ceres, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company utilizing multiple integrated plant genomics technologies to develop innovative products. In addition to pursuing opportunities in the food, feed and fiber industries, Ceres' business strategy consists of leveraging its technology platform in the agrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) is a leading provider of agricultural solutions to growers worldwide. Monsanto's employees provide top-quality, cost-effective and integrated approaches to help farmers improve their productivity and produce better quality foods.