The drought program offered by Monsanto in 2006 will again be available in 2007 for cotton producers in West Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico.

"This risk-sharing program will help support producer decisions to plant high-quality cottonseed containing advanced technologies that enable farmers to obtain the best yields possible," says Paul Callaghan, Cotton Traits Manager for Monsanto. "This drought-relief measure is designed to help producers in these areas reduce their financial risk from crop loss due to drought when choosing Monsanto cotton traits."

Qualifying traits include Bollgard®, Bollgard II®, Roundup Ready® cotton and Roundup Ready Flex cotton. Qualifying cotton producers are eligible to receive cotton technology refunds when a crop loss is experienced due to severe drought conditions on acres planted with cotton varieties containing Monsanto cotton traits.

As with the 2006 Drought Relief Program, a 100 percent refund of the published cotton technology fee will be provided to participating growers who either lose their cotton crop completely or have yields less than 150 pounds of lint per land acre. Eligibility requirements and certain restrictions apply.