US (CA): Monsanto and Syngenta expand seed research
"Yolo County is not just a seed capital," said Karen Ross, state Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary, at the 45th annual Farm City Luncheon in Woodland this Thursday, the same day Syngenta announced its expansion. "You are the leading edge seed capital in the world. Be confident that Yolo County agriculture and California agriculture is here for years to come."
By 2014, Syngenta's Woodland, 21435 County Road 98, facility will be home to the company's North American headquarters for cucurbit research (i.e., watermelons, melons and squash) and development activity, according to Scott Langkamp, Head of Vegetables for Syngenta in North America.
The enhanced capability in Woodland demonstrates Syngenta's commitment to the global seed business and to the region, said Langkamp in a statement. Once complete, the new facility will result in an expanded research and development presence in the California Central Valley for sweetcorn, cucurbits and tomatoes.
"The newly expanded Woodland location will be headquarters for Syngenta North American cucurbit research and development activities, and will also host important
cereals, corn and tomato research, as well as seed production," Langkamp said. "Vegetable seed produced at Woodland will be shipped to several countries around the globe."
Company officials said construction will begin this fall, pending permits, and is expected to be complete in 2014.
The site expansion includes new greenhouses and specialized plant growth environments; new plant pathology laboratory and expanded work space for research and development activities.
"We are very excited about this expansion and the solutions it will bring to our customers," Langkamp said. "This investment is consistent with our goals to be a research and development innovator and global breeding leader, and to think like a grower."
Meanwhile, construction began in April at another Woodland seed research plant, Monsanto, to double its size, making the site along Highway 16 the company's flagship location for vegetable seed research in the world.
The $31 million investment - which will see the facility grow to 200,000 square feet, about the same size as three and a half NFL football fields - is set to be completed in August 2013.
In addition to expanding research capabilities, the Woodland campus' enlargement was spurred on by the rapid growth of five years of steady hiring, pushing scientists and laboratories into portable buildings at Monsanto, which bought Seminis in 2005.
Upward to 30 seed research companies are planted in Yolo County, mostly around UC Davis, and thousands of acres are devoted to research in the region.
Source: dailydemocrat.com
