Golden Valley, Minnesota
March 17, 2003

Syngenta (NYSE: SYT - News) today announced the successful resolution of its lawsuit relating to the Athena melon under which Polonica International and its breeder have agreed to cease all melon breeding and to transfer to Syngenta their entire melon program - including germplasm, seeds and research records.

"I am pleased that Syngenta settled this lawsuit in a manner that recognizes and protects our
intellectual property rights," said John Sorenson, president of Syngenta Seeds, Inc. "Syngenta
invests in research to develop the best products for our customers, and Athena has proven its value
with growers for almost a decade. We will protect our intellectual property against anyone who tries
to misuse it."

As part of the settlement, both Polonica and its breeder have agreed to cease breeding or selling
melons until February 20, 2005, and to cease using any Syngenta melon varieties, even those that are publicly available, in any breeding work that they do conduct after that date. The Salinas, California company will sell its remaining stock of PXC221 melon seed and will pay Syngenta a royalty on those sales. The annual U.S. melon seeds market is estimated in the tens of millions of dollars range.

Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Syngenta Seeds AG and Syngenta Participations AG (collectively, "Syngenta") filed suit in 2000 in federal court in San Jose, California, Case No. 00-21136JF (N.D. Calif.), seeking damages and a permanent injunction against the defendants for unlawfully using trade secrets relating to Syngenta's Athena melon variety, as well as other intellectual property owned by Syngenta, in the production of a melon called PXC221. Athena is sold in North America under the ROGERS® brand and is a popular Eastern Shipper melon that has provided growers with a unique package of flavor, disease resistance and shipping ability since its commercial introduction in 1993.

For more than 125 years, Syngenta's ROGERS® brand has stood for an excellence of products and services and a vision to make superior vegetables possible. ROGERS® has a long history of developing and marketing seeds for growers. ROGERS® has played a pivotal role in developing high-performance crops that are increasingly productive and pest resistant, and continues to raise the standard. New initiatives such as the ROGERS® Produce Quality program provide valuable post-harvest information to breeders on how varieties maintain quality under optimal and sub-optimal shipping and handling conditions.

Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness. The company is a leader in crop protection and ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in 2002 were approximately US $6.2 billion. Syngenta employs some 20,000 people in over 90 countries. The company is committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology. Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SYNN) and in London (SYA), New York (SYT) and Stockholm (SYN). Further information is available at www.syngenta.com http://www.syngenta.com

For inquiries to purchase Athena seed or any other ROGERS® products, please contact Dean Liere, Product Marketing Manager for Melons and Watermelons, at (408) 848-9336.