Delta and Pine Land Company (NYSE: DLP), a leading commercial breeder, producer and marketer of cotton planting seed, today announced financial results for the second fiscal quarter and six months ended February 28, 2002.

Second quarter 2002 net income was $0.44 per diluted share compared to last year's second quarter net income of $0.59 per diluted share. Net sales for the 2002 second quarter decreased to $111.9 million from $150.2 million in the year-ago quarter. The dramatic difference in sales as compared with the 2001 quarter reflects the strength of last year's record second quarter, which resulted from an acceleration of shipments into the second quarter as customers purchased seed earlier in the cycle.

Results from the 2002 second quarter are also attributable to an apparent shift in shipments from the second quarter into the third quarter as customers have been slow to purchase seed, waiting on finalization of the pending farm legislation now before the U.S. Congress, which will impact farm subsidy payments and potentially impact planted acreage. The Company also believes that a forecasted decline in planted cotton acreage for 2002 compared to 2001 levels by the Nationalompany points out, however, that actual planted cotton acreage can vary widely depending on many factors such as weather, commodity prices and governmental programs in effect at or near planting time which will occur in the third quarter, thus making forecasting at this point in the year an uncertainty.

Net income for the six-month period was $0.33 per diluted share, a decrease from $0.47 per diluted share for the comparable prior year period. Net sales for the period decreased to $120.1 million from $159.8 million in the comparable prior year period.

Delta and Pine Land Company is a commercial breeder, producer and marketer of cotton planting seed. Headquartered in Scott, Mississippi, with multiple offices in eight states and facilities in several foreign countries, DLP also breeds, produces and markets soybean planting seed.