Indianapolis, Indiana and St. Louis, Missouri
October 2, 2002

Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), and its affiliates, and Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and its affiliates, announced today agreement on a series of royalty-bearing licenses and options to products and technologies related to insect-protected corn and
Roundup Ready corn, soybeans, cotton and canola. These agreements provide farmers worldwide with greater access to an expanded range of premier technologies in the seed brands they desire.

"I am pleased that our companies have been able to work through a number of challenging issues. These agreements enhance our ability to serve our customers more effectively both in the near and long-term," said Dow AgroSciences Vice President Pete Siggelko.

"This is an important step and a positive development that enables both companies to better focus on meeting customer demand for both established products and new technology," said Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., Monsanto's chief technology officer.

The companies have reached an agreement that includes the following:

• Monsanto provides Dow AgroSciences with commercial, non-exclusive, royalty-bearing licenses relating to Monsanto's premier Roundup Ready corn event, Monsanto's established events for Roundup Ready cotton, soybeans and canola, as well as Monsanto's YieldGard insect-protected corn events for corn borer and corn rootworm.
• Monsanto provides Dow AgroSciences with freedom to operate under Monsanto intellectual property related to Dow AgroSciences' Herculex I Insect Protection corn and certain corn rootworm-protected products developed by Dow AgroSciences through a royalty-bearing license payable to Monsanto.
• Dow AgroSciences provides Monsanto with a non-exclusive, royalty-bearing license to Dow AgroSciences' Herculex I Insect Protection corn for use in Monsanto's Latin American corn business together with options to license additional Dow AgroSciences technology on non-exclusive royalty-bearing terms.
• Disputes surrounding a 1989 technology contract regarding insect-protected corn and herbicide-tolerant corn, cotton and canola between the companies' predecessors-in-interest have been resolved, and new business arrangements have been established under the terms of these agreements.
• Certain litigation between the parties has been resolved.

Additional details of the agreements were not disclosed.

Monsanto Company is a leading provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity. Monsanto's technology traits are available through the company's Asgrow, DEKALB and Hartz seed brands, and are broadly licensed to more than 250 other seed companies so growers have access to the technology in the varieties that best meet their agronomic needs.

Dow AgroSciences LLC is a global leader in providing pest management and biotechnology products including conventional and technology-based seed solutions for growers through the Company's Mycogen, Phytogen, Morgan and DAS Brazil and Canada seed brands.