Bangkok Post - 31 May 2003

Monsanto names new chief exec - Struggling to reinvent itself 

The Monsanto Co,  the agriculture and biotechnology company  that
helped pioneer the development of genetically altered crops, said
on  Thursday  that  its  board  had  appointed a longtime company
executive, Hugh Grant, as president and chief executive.  

Grant,  who has served as the company's chief  operating  officer
for  the last three years,  replaces Hendrik A.  Verfaillie,  who
resigned unexpectedly in December after a series of disappointing
profit reports.  Frank V.  AtLee III, the company's chairman, has
been serving as interim chief executive.  

Considered an articulate advocate of genetically  altered  crops,
Grant,  45,  takes over a company that for the last few years has
been struggling to reinvent itself as a seeds  and  biotechnology
company.  Monsanto was founded in 1901 as a chemical company, and
it has long been a dominant force in the herbicide business.  

For the last seven years, Monsanto has been the leading developer
of genetically altered seeds,  which are now planted on more than
140 million acres worldwide, mostly in North and South America.  

Monsanto's biotechnology  traits  are  used  in  nearly  all  the
genetically altered seeds now on the US market.  

The  company's  aggressive  effort  to remake itself has taken it
through mergers, spin-offs and a series of management shake-ups.  

Grant will become the company's third  chief  executive  in  four
years.   Before  Verfaillie,  the company was headed by Robert B.
Shapiro,   who  stepped  down  after  Monsanto  was  acquired  by
Pharmacia in 2000.  

Pharmacia,   which   absorbed  Monsanto's  Searle  pharmaceutical
division,  decided to spin off Monsanto as a separate agriculture
company in 2001.  

Among   the  challenges  facing  Grant  is  stiff  opposition  to
genetically altered crops in Europe,  which could affect the sale
of biotech crops in other countries,  and a profit slump in which
Monsanto has reported losses of more than $1.7 billion  over  the
last year.  

While  Monsanto's  Roundup  herbicide  business is strong and its
biotechnology  seeds  are  highly  profitable,  the  company  had
management and inventory problems in Latin America last year, and
its spending on research and development is high, analysts say.