LibertyLink® Rice transformation events LLRICE06 and LLRICE62, from AgrEvo USA Company, have been removed from the USDA's list of regulated crops. The ruling covers rice that is resistant to Liberty® Herbicide (active ingredient: glufosinate-ammonium). Non-Regulated status granted by the USDA is one step in achieving regulatory clearances that also includes an evaluation of food and feed safety by other government agencies in North America and abroad. With this decision, LibertyLink Rice joins LibertyLink Corn, Soybean, Canola and Sugarbeet varieties as products which USDA has determined do not pose a plant pest risk to the environment.

The USDA ruling will allow AgrEvo to carry out extensive variety evaluation and seed increase in
preparation for the commercial launch, anticipated in 2001. AgrEvo has initiated regulatory actions in major rice importing countries in order to allow LibertyLink Rice to simultaneously enter domestic and international trade in 2001. LibertyLink Rice will not enter commerce prior to this. Over the next few months, AgrEvo will be actively discussing the introduction of LibertyLink Rice with the rice industry, including growers, processors, and exporters.

AgrEvo is a global leader in biotechnology, seeds, crop protection, and environmental health. The
company markets globally a wide range of products for enhancing crop production, together with
applications for urban pest control. AgrEvo operates in more than 70 countries with approximately
8,500 employees. For more information, visit the company's website at www.us.agrevo.com

Background

LibertyLink® Rice
Weed control is essential for efficient rice production. The ability to use Liberty® Herbicide on
genetically enhanced LibertyLink Rice will provide a new weed management tool to rice growers.
LibertyLink Rice varieties are especially important in areas of the world where weed complexes,
including red rice and rice mimic, limit rice production.

Liberty® Herbicide
Liberty Herbicide is highly biodegradable and has low toxicity for humans and wild fauna.
LibertyLink Rice will enhance current agronomic practices in rice and change the way rice is
managed by: 1) offering a broad spectrum, post-emergence weed control system, including red rice control; 2) providing a new herbicidal mode of action that allows for additional weed resistance management options in rice; and 3) encouraging herbicide use on an as-needed basis, resulting in less applications per season. All of these result in major steps forward in improving rice production.

LibertyLink Rice Development
The first commercial sale of LibertyLink Rice seed anticipated to be in the spring of 2001, will
include varieties with adaptation to California, and the southern USA rice growing regions. AgrEvo
will establish two rice-breeding stations in California and Mississippi in 1999. The AgrEvo USA rice breeder, Dr. Kirk Johnson, has been guiding the AgrEvo breeding program since April 1998.
AgrEvo has been working closely with Dr. Carl Johnson of the California Rice Experiment Station
and with Dr. Steve Linscombe of Louisiana State University in the field evaluation and selection of
lines of LibertyLink Rice that will represent the first commercial varieties.

Stewardship
The USDA ruling will allow AgrEvo to carry out extensive variety evaluation and seed increase in
preparation for the anticipated 2001 commercial launch. AgrEvo has initiated regulatory actions in
major rice importing countries in order to allow LibertyLink Rice to enter domestic and international trade in 2001. LibertyLink Rice will not enter commerce prior to this. Over the next few months, AgrEvo will actively discuss the introduction of LibertyLink Rice with the rice industry, including growers, processors, and exporters. As part of a commercial release of LibertyLink Rice, AgrEvo will communicate a stewardship initiative to growers. An integral part of the program will be management strategies to contain the development of Liberty Herbicide resistance in red rice.

International Rice Development
AgrEvo has made a commitment to a global rice seed business. In November 1998, AgrEvo
announced the purchase of the rice breeding program of Granja, Brazil's largest private producer of rice seeds. "We'll build our global rice crop production business using LibertyLink and other
proprietary biotechnology traits, as well as our new elite rice germplasm," says AgrEvo CEO
Gerhard Prante. AgrEvo estimates that over 1.5 million hectares of rice are under cultivation in
Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. To further strengthen AgrEvo's global business position in rice,
Hybrid Rice International, located in New Delhi, India, was acquired by AgrEvo in March 1999.
Field evaluations of LibertyLink Rice are currently ongoing in South America and are planned for
Italy in the 1999 growing season.

The information in this news release should not be deemed accurate or current except as of the date the release was made. The Company has no intention of updating, and specifically disclaims any duty to update, the information in the press release. To the extent that the information is forward-looking, it is intended to fit within the safe harbor for forward-looking information, and is subject to material risk factors.

Company news release
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