Analysts, on average, expect Monsanto to report an 8.5 percent drop in revenue to $4.756 billion and a 16 percent decline in per-share profit to $2.436, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine.

Earnings potential has suffered as farmers have become less willing to pay up for seeds and chemicals, Goldman Sachs said in a note last month.

SEED PRICING WAR

Seed discounts by Monsanto and its rivals, including DuPont Pioneer, have been the steepest in at least six years, Monsanto executives have said.

Monsanto cut prices to preserve its customer base after Pioneer, in particular, "came out with offers like free seed and other pretty significant discounts," Michael Frank, Monsanto's chief commercial officer, said in a telephone interview last month.

Together, the companies' products blanket some 70 percent of all corn and soybean acres in the United States.

DuPont, in a statement, said it prices its products competitively. It is due to report earnings on April 26.

Some seed dealers said more and more farmers were foregoing new varieties to save money.