St. Louis, Missouri
April 18,  2001

Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) held its first annual meeting of stockholders today after a partial initial public offering of its stock to investors last October. Although the Monsanto name has been part of the business world for nearly 100 years, President and Chief Executive Officer Hendrik A. Verfaillie said the new Monsanto is devoted completely to agriculture and is creating value through a business model that combines herbicides, biotechnology traits and genomics into integrated solutions for its customers. 

Verfaillie also noted that the company is focusing its efforts in three areas for 2001: 

• (1) Growing sales of Roundup herbicide through brand leadership and volume growth;
• (2) Gaining approvals for biotechnology traits and commercializing them globally; and
• (3) Realizing the full value of the company's new product pipeline. 

At the annual meeting, shareowners elected the nine current members of its board of directors to new, one-year terms. Those elected include: Frank V. AtLee III, chairman; Hakan Astrom; Christopher J. Coughlin; Michael Kantor; Gwendolyn S. King; C. Steven McMillan; William U. Parfet; John S. Reed; and Verfaillie. 

Shareowners also approved the company's Phantom Share Agreements and Annual Incentive Program, thereby exempting payment of awards to certain executive officers from deduction limitations for U.S. tax purposes. Deloitte & Touche LLP also were ratified as principal independent auditors for the company. 

Monsanto Company, an 85 percent owned subsidiary of Pharmacia Corporation (NYSE: PHA), is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. For more information on Monsanto, see: www.monsanto.com . 

Company news release
N3467