EXHIBIT 99

Deutsche Bank Conference Call
Friday, Sept. 6, 2002; 10 a.m. Central
Kerry Preete
Final:  Sept. 5, 2002, 3:15 p.m.


Good morning to everyone, and thanks to John for arranging this conference call.
I'd like to open our  conversation  this morning by providing you with an update
and outlook  for our U. S. business.  I'll cover the breadth of our  integrated
solutions - from Roundup to seeds and traits.

Before we start, however, Monsanto's legal counsel has asked that I refer you to
the Safe  Harbor  language  in our  most  recent  10-Q and an 8-K we filed  this
morning. My comments will include forward-looking statements, and actual results
may be materially different.

When you look at where we've been this year,  and where we expect to be in 2003,
you have to start with  weather.  As most of you know,  this has been an unusual
weather season.  The Plains have had no relief from the drought all year,  while
the Midwest went from a deluge of rain in the spring,  to drought  conditions by
July.

As I travel  throughout  the country,  the corn and soybean crops are in some of
the worst  shape I've ever  seen.  Particularly  in the  western  regions,  many
farmers are not taking their corn to market, and instead are using it for feed -
or silage - or are turning it under and taking crop  insurance.  Their choice is
either to try their  hand at winter  wheat,  or take  their  chances  again next
spring on corn.

Generally, yields are expected to be down, with commodity pricing improving as a
result.  Overall,  we're  expecting  U.S.  corn  acreage next year to be flat to
slightly up. Soybean acreage should be flat, driven as much by provisions in the
new Farm Bill as by current  conditions.  Cotton should  recover some next year,
again because of favorable Farm Bill payments.




These market and weather  conditions  affected the Roundup business in the first
half of the year,  and will determine how the second half of the year plays out.
While the overall  glyphosate  market is growing this year,  it is doing so at a
lower rate than we and others originally projected. As you know, the dry weather
in the Midwest  and Plains  states  reduced  the use of Roundup  over the top of
Roundup Ready crops and in fallow markets in the Plains.  We've been affected by
this  loss of sales in the  over-the-top  business,  and by market  share  loss,
primarily in the more price-sensitive pre-plant or burn down market.

It's still early to predict  how the  post-harvest  market will play out,  given
that this is the  beginning of the  harvesting  season.  We're  pleased with our
position in some of the key post-harvest  markets, such as our RT Master product
for use in wheat. That said, weather conditions in the next few weeks will truly
drive the  strength of that  market,  and could hurt if the  drought  continues,
especially in the Plains.

By  year-end,  we expect to see sales  volumes  matched to the amount of product
used by the farmer - you often hear us call that POG,  or pounds on the  ground.
Pricing  for the total year - as it was for the first half -- will  continue  to
reflect the mix effect of lower priced Roundup brands in pre-plant  applications
and RT Master in wheat.  We continue to expect our market share to be at or near
the 80 percent range overall for the year. We'll have a somewhat higher share in
the  over-the-top  market,  where our high-value  Roundup  UltraMax  remains the
product of choice by growers.

When you get to this point in the year in the U.S.  market,  however,  the sales
force really turns its  attention to the next growing  season.  For 2003,  we're
going all out with the  introduction of WeatherMAX -- our next generation in the
Roundup family.

Weather Max is a new, patented  formulation designed to serve the high-value end
of the market, and will be our flagship product in the over-the-top market. It's
both a different and less  expensive way of making  Roundup,  and it's a unique,
proprietary formulation. WeatherMax is more highly concentrated, which fits very
well with our bulk tank  distribution  system. It also allows the retailer to be
able to have more product on hand in

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the same  amount of space.  It also  makes  handling  more  convenient.  This is
critical in the June-July timeframe when the spraying is fast and furious.

WeatherMax  also addresses two critical  farmer needs.  First,  it's designed to
provide superior rain fastness.  If a farmer sprays Weather Max on his field, it
can rain just 30 minutes later, and the Roundup will have already moved into the
roots of the plant to kill the weed. The next best product on the market,  which
is our Ultra Max, has a one-hour rain fast guarantee.

Second, WeatherMax performs under adverse weather conditions. By adverse, I mean
it's too hot, too cold,  too dry, too wet and the like. All of these can have an
effect on any herbicide's  performance.  Farmers tell us that roughly 75 percent
of the time  they're  spraying  in  conditions  that are less than  ideal.  With
WeatherMax,  they get better  performance  in all types of spraying  conditions.
While  this may not seem  like  much of a benefit  on the  surface,  if you're a
farmer faced with spraying over 1,000 acres in one day, you put a premium on the
convenience and  flexibility of not having to wait for the "perfect"  conditions
to spray AND on getting maximum performance in less than ideal weather.

Retailers,  as they use up their  Ultra Max,  will  convert to Weather  Max,  in
preparation  for the spring season.  This is a typical  planning  pattern for ag
distributors  and  retailers.  A number of farmers and retailers did trials with
Weather Max this year, and the feedback was very positive. In fact, the level of
interest is greater  than it was for  UltraMax  because of the  improvements  in
performance.

Weather  Max will allow us to  maintain  the  umbrella of pricing on the Roundup
family,  and will be priced  comparable  to the  price on  UltraMax  this  year.
Weather Max also will enhance our Roundup Rewards  program,  as farmers will now
get improved performance guarantees.

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If I could turn now to seeds and traits, we feel very good about our performance
this year and how that will play into next year's growing season.  Like Roundup,
we're  entering the time when growers are  beginning to make their choices about
the seeds and traits they'll use in 2003.

On the seed side, our corn seed business gained roughly 2 points of market share
in 2002.  Two factors  contributed  to this gain:  One,  we've made  significant
improvements in the quality of our genetics. Farmers are getting better quality,
better  yielding  seeds with our DeKalb and Asgrow brands because of the changes
we've made through the integration of our seed businesses and the application of
our R&D power to our breeding  efforts.  Two, we have more traits in our branded
corn than ever before.  This year,  roughly 65 percent of our total branded corn
seed contained a biotech trait.

Our soybean seeds held the 2-point market share gain we made in 2001 in a season
when  overall  soybean  acreage  was down.  More than 95 percent of the  branded
soybeans  we sell today  contain  the  Roundup  Ready  trait.  For both corn and
soybeans, we've made these market share improvements while either holding prices
flat or increasing them.

Indications  are that our total  biotech  acreage in the United States this year
will be up by more  than 5  percent,  with  continued  gains  in  Roundup  Ready
soybeans,  and very nice  growth in Roundup  Ready corn,  over 50  percent.  The
stacked growth was at similar rates, which is very important because it upgrades
our margin per acre.

We're very excited about Roundup Ready corn,  which by all indications will grow
significantly  again in 2003.  The product  just flat out  performs,  and grower
acceptance is reflecting that. Growers are seeing the same benefits from Roundup
Ready corn that they saw in Roundup  Ready  soybeans in terms of efficacy,  cost
savings,  flexibility and ease of use. In a recent focus group, one farmer noted
that by planting both Roundup Ready corn and Roundup Ready soybeans, he only has
to load  his  sprayer  once to treat  both  fields.

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There is real value in the  simplicity  of using only one herbicide in a season.
This year roughly half of the farmers who planted  Roundup  Ready corn are using
only Roundup as their herbicide  treatment.  In 2003, our branded corn seed will
be  predominantly  Monsanto's  NK603  event,  rather  than the trait we had been
licensing from Aventis.

Although we're at the top of the  penetration  curve for Roundup Ready soybeans,
we expect that we'll continue to see single-digit  percentage growth.  Cotton is
also highly  penetrated,  but high insect  pressure this year is likely to boost
our Bollgard technology.  Corn farmers also saw a high infestation from the corn
borer, which should benefit YieldGard sales.

Finally from a trait  perspective,  our field sales force is anxious to have our
new YieldGard corn rootworm product and our Bollgard II second-generation  trait
for cotton  available to sell.  Final EPA  approvals  are still  pending on both
products.* Upon approval,  we'll have limited seed available, but would expect a
high rate of adoption for both traits.  Both products are several years ahead of
any competitive offerings.

In  summary,  2002 was marked by a year of  healthy  competition  and  unhealthy
weather  conditions.  Competition  will remain a constant  pressure in 2003, and
weather is likely to affect someone, somewhere. That said, the prospects for our
technologies remain amongst the best in the industry.  It's our innovation,  our
quality  and our  commitment  to the  customer  that have made us the  preferred
supplier to growers,  distributors  and retailers.  As a point of pride, I might
add that for the third year in a row,  growers  and  retailers  named us the top
provider of  agricultural.  It's  especially in tough years like 2002 that these
relationships pay off.

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to questions.  John, would you like to
start?


*    YieldGard corn rootworm and Bollgard II are not yet registered for use. It
     is a violation of federal law to offer for sale, distribute or sell
     unregistered products. These comments do not constitute an offer of sale.


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