April 5, 2010

Monsanto expands soy seed seed facility

Monsanto Co. plans to convert and expand a former sunflower seed production facility in North Dakota to now produce its Asgrow brand soy seeds, the company said Thursday (April 1).

The company plans to complete what it termed a "multimillion-dollar" expansion of the facility, in West Fargo, North Dakota, in December. Previously, the sunflower seed facility became unnecessary following the sale of Monsanto's sunflower business to Syngenta in August 2009.

Monsanto said the expansion is expected to provide dozens of construction jobs and will add 20 new full-time and temporary employees at the site on completion.

The company said the economic impact to local farmers producing soy for the expansion is about US$20 million a year. Four of the top 20 US soy-producing counties are located in North Dakota, the ninth-largest state by planted soy acreage at some four million acres.

"This site expansion is a critical part of our strategic direction as a seeds-and-traits business, but the real winners here are the farmers, the community and the state of North Dakota," said Mark Martino, vice-president of seeds and traits manufacturing at Monsanto.