Scott, Mississippi
November 21,  2001

Delta and Pine Land Company (NYSE: DLP) ("D&PL"), a leading commercial breeder, producer and marketer of cotton planting seed, received from the Circuit Court of Bolivar County, Mississippi, four opinions issued by the Court on November 15, 2001, that were favorable to D&PL in its lawsuit against Monsanto Company and Pharmacia Corporation. Most significantly, the Court denied Monsanto's motions to dismiss and for summary judgment. The suit seeks compensa ory and punitive damages.

D&PL's suit against Monsanto, which arises out of the companies' failed merger, charges that Monsanto (now Pharmacia) breached its contractual obligations in the companies' merger agreement to use best efforts and commercially reasonable efforts to complete the merger. The suit alleges that Monsanto could have and should have resolved objections to the transaction from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and obtained clearance from the Justice Department to complete the merger. The suit also alleges that Monsanto's conduct of willfully keeping D&PL tied up for 18 months so that it would be unable to enter into transactions with other companies constituted tortious interference with prospective business relations.

Monsanto had sought to dismiss D&PL's claims, arguing that there were no disputed issues of fact and that D&PL could not prove damages. The Court disagreed.

In denying Monsanto's motions, the Court found that there were material issues of fact that should be tried in front of a jury regarding the "existence or value of the lost business opportunities or the lost benefits of the merger." The Court held that "sufficient specific facts are alleged to cause this Court to form an opinion that a jury might find that D&PL was damaged by the failure of the merger."

In a separate order, the Court also ordered that Monsanto turn over 37 separate categories of documents that D&PL had sought and that Monsanto was seeking to withhold.

The suit names as defendants both Pharmacia Corporation, which is the present name of Monsanto Company, which entered into the merger agreement with D&PL, and Monsanto, which is a newly created subsidiary of Pharmacia, which has contractually agreed with Pharmacia to be responsible for the liability to D&PL.

W.T. Jagodinski, D&PL's SVP/CFO, stated, "The Company is pleased with the Court's decisions. We look forward to getting these documents from Monsanto and getting this case to trial."

Delta and Pine Land Company is a commercial breeder, producer and marketer of cotton planting seed. Headquartered in Scott, Mississippi, with multiple offices in eight states and facilities in several foreign countries, D&PL also breeds, produces and markets soybean planting seed. D&PL's stock trades on the NYSE under the ticker "DLP." For more information about the Company, please visit D&PL's web site at www.deltaandpine.com.

Company news release
N3975