Monsanto 10-Q 2008 Q3 Quarterly report

Exhibit 12

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

	Nine Months															Eight Months
	Ended															Ended
	May 31,						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	$	3,156		$	1,336		$	1,049		$	315		$	403		$	(19	)
Add:
Fixed charges		137			177			161			136			112			71
Dividends from affiliated companies		—			—			—			—			—			—
Equity affiliate expense — net		2			34			31			31			36			26
Amortization of capitalized interest		12			15			15			15			10			8
Less:
Capitalized interest		(14	)		(14	)		(9	)		(6	)		(7	)		(4	)
Earnings available for fixed charges	$	3,293		$	1,548		$	1,247		$	491		$	554		$	82
FIXED CHARGES:
Interest expense(2)	$	105		$	139		$	134		$	115		$	91		$	57
Capitalized interest		14			14			9			6			7			4
Portion of rents representative of interest factor		18			24			18			15			14			10
Total Fixed Charges	$	137		$	177		$	161		$	136		$	112		$	71
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges		24.04			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.