Monsanto 10-Q 2008 Q2 Quarterly report

Exhibit 12

MONSANTO COMPANY
COMPUTATION OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES⁽¹⁾
(Dollars in millions)

	Six Months															Eight Months
	Ended															Ended
	Feb. 29,			Year Ended Aug. 31,												Aug. 31,
	2008			2007			2006			2005			2004			2003
EARNINGS:
Income (Loss) from Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes, MI and Cumulative Effect of Accounting Change	$	2,054		$	1,336		$	1,049		$	315		$	403		$	(19	)
Add:
Fixed charges		92			177			161			136			112			71
Dividends from affiliated companies		—			—			—			—			—			—
Equity affiliate expense — net		3			34			31			31			36			26
Amortization of capitalized interest		8			15			15			15			10			8
Less:
Capitalized interest		(8	)		(14	)		(9	)		(6	)		(7	)		(4	)
Earnings available for fixed charges	$	2,149		$	1,548		$	1,247		$	491		$	554		$	82
FIXED CHARGES:
Interest expense(2)	$	72		$	139		$	134		$	115		$	91		$	57
Capitalized interest		8			14			9			6			7			4
Portion of rents representative of interest factor		12			24			18			15			14			10
Total Fixed Charges	$	92		$	177		$	161		$	136		$	112		$	71
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges		23.36			8.75			7.75			3.61			4.95			1.15

(1)	Monsanto has not paid any preference security dividends and, therefore, has not included the ratio of combined fixed charges and preference security dividends to earnings for the relevant periods.
(2)	Includes amortization of deferred debt issuance costs and the interest component of the income tax provision.