U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 4 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 [_] Check box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b). ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Reed John S. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) Citicorp Center, 153 East 53rd Street, 21st Floor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) New York NY 10043 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol Monsanto Company MON ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary) ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Statement for Month/Year August 2001 ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [X] Director [_] 10% Owner [_] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) ________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line) [X] Form filed by one Reporting Person [_] Form filed by more than one Reporting Person ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================ 6. 4. 5. Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Amount of ship 3. Disposed of (D) Securities Form: 7. Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Nature of 2. Code ------------------------------- Owned at End (D) or Indirect 1. Transaction (Instr. 8) (A) of Month Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date ------------ Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) Code V (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 4/17/01 A(1) V 3,665 A $35.475 147,316(2) D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== * If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction 4(b)(v). Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. (Print or Type Responses) (Over) (Form 4-07/99) FORM 4 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================ 10. 9. Owner- Number ship of Form 2. Deriv- of Conver- 5. 7. ative Deriv- 11. sion Number of Title and Amount Secur- ative Nature or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. ities Secur- of Exer- 4. Securities Date Securities Price Bene- ity: In- cise 3. Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of ficially Direct direct Price Trans- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- Owned (D) or Bene- 1. of action Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative at End In- ficial Title of Deriv- Date (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- of direct Owner- Derivative ative (Month/ 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity Month (I) ship Security Secur- Day/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity Year) Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Option Common (right to buy) $20.00 10/17/00 (3) 10/16/10 Stock 10,000 10,000 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== Explanation of Responses: (1) Represents shares of deferred common stock deliverable upon termination as a director under the Monsanto Company Non-Employee Director Equity Incentive Compensation Plan. Shares of deferred stock are credited in the form of hypothetical shares to a stock unit account in installments on the last day of each plan month during the director's term and for the payment of dividends. Shares of deferred stock not credited to the stock unit account because of termination as a director before the end of the director's term are forfeited. (2) Includes 9,286 shares of common stock deliverable under the Monsanto Company Non-Employee Director Equity Incentive Compensation Plan. (3) 50% of shares exercisable on March 15, 2002 and 50% of shares exercisable on March 15, 2003, subject to the terms of the Monsanto 2000 Management Incentive Plan. /s/ Michael D. Bryan 9/7/01 --------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date * Michael D. Bryan, attorney-in-fact for John S. Reed * Executed pursuant to a Power of Attorney previously filed ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.