MYCOGEN FINALIZES STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH EUROPEAN SEED COMPANY

December 12, 1996

SAN DIEGO, Calif.-- Mycogen Corporation (Nasdaq: MYCO) has completed transactions to establish a strategic alliance with Verneuil Holding, a major European seed company based in France.

Mycogen exchanged its European seed business and other assets for an 18.75 percent interest in Verneuil Holding and obtained an option to purchase another 16.25 percent of Verneuil's stock now owned by DowElanco. DowElanco, a partnership of Dow Chemical and Eli Lilly & Co., is Mycogen's largest stockholder, with approximately 52 percent of the company's common shares.

Verneuil Holding, which markets hybrid seed corn, sunflower, wheat, barley and other seed products in several European countries and North Africa, had 1996 revenues of approximately $62 million. Mycogen had European seed revenues of $8 million.

Mycogen's Mycogen Seeds subsidiary is the sixth largest seed company in the United States and a leader in developing and marketing insect-resistant corn hybrids. Jerry Caulder, Mycogen's chairman and chief executive officer, said that expanding the company's presence in Europe is a key element in Mycogen's strategy for building a global seed business.

"Europe is second only to the U.S. in agricultural production and this alliance will significantly strengthen the platform we've been building to grow there," Caulder said. "Mycogen's technology will provide the basis for new seed products with built-in pest resistance and other value-added characteristics, and we will also exchange breeding material to augment both companies' breeding programs."

Jean-Louis Duval, managing director of Verneuil Holding said, "The combination of Mycogen's biotechnology expertise and specialty oils technology and Verneuil's market presence Europe and the Mediterranean area will create tremendous opportunities for growth."

Carl Eibl, Mycogen's president and chief operating officer, said the agreement calls for expansion of an ongoing exchange of corn parent lines between Verneuil and United Agriseeds, which Mycogen acquired from DowElanco in February 1996, and formation of two joint ventures. One will license technology and genetics from Verneuil and Mycogen to develop and commercialize oilseed products; the other will license technology and genetics from both to develop insect-resistant seed corn. Verneuil and the joint venture companies will have the right to use the Mycogen. brand name for seed products.

"This alliance and our recent acquisition of Morgan Seeds in Argentina allow Mycogen to leverage our research and development investments," Eibl said. "We will exchange breeding material and share value-added traits among Verneuil and our U.S. and South American companies, but each company will have considerable autonomy in sales and product development."

Mycogen's forward-looking statements are based on projections and estimates regarding the economy and the seed and crop protection industries. Various factors could cause actual results to vary significantly from management's expectations. These include the impact of weather on production and sales, actions by competitors and regulatory agencies, intellectual property positions, fluctuations in international currency, commodity prices and crop acreage.

Mycogen is a diversified agricultural biotechnology company that develops and markets technology-based products and provides crop protection services to control agricultural pests and improve food and fiber production. Mycogen Seeds develops and markets planting seeds for improved crop varieties with genetically enhanced insect-resistance and other value-added characteristics. Mycogen Crop Protection develops and markets environmentally compatible biopesticides and provides crop protection services to growers of high value crops in California and Arizona.

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