Monsanto Expands in Chesterfield

Monsanto Expanding in St. Louis Area

06/14/2010
NAFB News Service

Nearly a quarter century after it was built, Chesterfield Village Research Center near St. Louis, will once again be home to the biggest research and development team in the field of agriculture. In the coming weeks and months, key groups of Monsanto scientists and researchers will move back into newly renovated labs, greenhouses and growth chambers at the site. The number of Monsanto employees at Chesterfield Village is expected to grow from approximately 400 to more than 1,200.

Monsanto chief technology officer Robb Fraley says - Chesterfield Village has always been key to our global R&D effort. With a majority of the company's technology workforce located here I expect it to play an even greater role in the immense amount of new technologies still to come in agriculture. The move will bring together various technology teams including biotechnology, breeding technology and chemistry, thus encouraging even greater collaboration.

Much of the work in the early years of agricultural biotechnology, including the development of the first Roundup Ready® crops and the first insect-protected corn and cotton products, was done at the 1.5 million-square-foot research center. The site houses 250 laboratories, 108 growth chambers and 26 greenhouses. The company expects to add up to 15 more greenhouses and up to 50 new growth chambers in the next five years.