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Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today its intention to make an investment of up to $196 million over the next 18 months at its glyphosate manufacturing facility in Luling, Louisiana. The planned development will increase its global capacity to produce Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides.

"Growing global adoption of our seed products, including Roundup Ready crops, has led to increased demand for our Roundup agricultural herbicides," said Mark Leidy, executive vice president of manufacturing at Monsanto. "Today's investment provides for new process improvements at our Luling manufacturing facility, allowing us to strengthen our manufacturing position while helping to ensure that our business is able to provide a reliable supply of the world's leading herbicide brand, Roundup, to our customers."

Monsanto recently received authorization from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) on three permits which pave the way for the new enhancements at its Luling facility. The company's investment is designed to both expand infrastructure and front-end manufacturing capacity at the facility.

Monsanto is focused on making improvements to the company's manufacturing processes at Luling over the next 18 months by continuing to leverage technology and capital improvements throughout the manufacturing process.
These improvements have the potential to increase the site's manufacturing capacity of Roundup agricultural herbicide by approximately 20 percent once finalized, which would increase the overall global supply of glyphosate by more than 10 percent.

Monsanto's Luling plant expansion, which is expected to be completed in the first half of the company's 2010 fiscal year, should add new jobs to the New Orleans region and its economy. The project is expected to employ approximately 30 new people directly and result in the hiring of approximately 300-350 people during the construction period at the plant.

Monsanto announces energy-reduction project planned at Luling site

In addition to the planned expansion, Monsanto announced that it will be undertaking an energy-reduction project at its Luling facility. The company will be implementing a hydrogen-recovery project, a step that will enable it to reduce natural gas costs and better conserve and utilize hydrogen, a by-product of the glyphosate manufacturing process.

The energy-reduction project is expected to allow the company to reduce its direct or indirect greenhouse gas emissions at the facility by an estimated
128 million pounds, or 58,000 metric tons, annually. This reduction equates to a carbon footprint that would be generated by more than 9,000 airplane trips around the world annually.

Roundup is the largest selling herbicide brand in the world. Its active ingredient, glyphosate, was first developed and introduced in the 1970s. The herbicide was first marketed to farmers in 1973. Now, nearly thirty-five years later, Roundup brand herbicides are considered the world's most efficient and most used herbicides by farmers throughout the world.

Sales of Roundup herbicides have steadily increased since the introduction of the first-generation of Roundup Ready crops in the 1990s. Since that time, farmers around the world have used Monsanto's Roundup Ready technology and glyphosate-based herbicides to adopt environmentally-friendly farming practices like conservation tillage to preserve topsoil and reduce on-farm costs.

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

Roundup and Roundup Ready are registered trademarks of Monsanto Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. The greenhouse gas emissions calculation referenced in this release was developed using the carbon calculator available on http://www.terrapass.com/.  

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