Cheminova's appetite fueled by BASF, Syngenta, other RTP peers

A fever is spreading through the agribiotechnology community, and recent BASF expansion in Research Triangle Park (RTP)of North Carolina is just fueling its spread.

BASF’s newly completed $33 million expansion is bigger than the German chemical company, see, just as Syngenta’s recently announced expansion is bigger than the Swiss agribiotech.

The Research Triangle Park (RTP) fever carried by stalwarts such as BASF, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience and Monsanto is contagious, and Danish chemical company Cheminova is more evidence of its spread.

Rico Toft Christensen, president of Cheminova’s North American operations, recently confirmed something that we’ve long suspected: Cheminova’s decision to expand here is directly related to the presence and growth of the other agriculture companies in RTP.

There’s just something about RTP that keeps agribiotechs excited, he says, and Cheminova is in it for the long haul.

“North Carolina has an interesting agricultural history with a very diverse agriculture,” he says. “That’s what got it started in the first place, and of course, we have the major universities.”

Life is just easier in the biotech world here, he adds, noting that, prior to Cheminova’s move to RTP in 2008, recruitment was difficult.

“This is a place where it’s easier to find the right people,” he says. “It’s easier to find people here than it was in New Jersey.”

But without the presence of giants such as BASF and Syngenta, Cheminova may never have shifted its focus to the park.

Those companies, he says, aren’t just creating jobs. They are creating a cluster, and that’s what hooks other companies into the fold.

“Once you have one of two companies ... The rest will follow,” he says. “Because that’s what it becomes - a cluster.”

And now Cheminova is fighting for its own place in the cluster, planning to double its 24-person local headcount in the next year. RTP serves as the company’s North American headquarters, meaning the bulk of the regional administrative functions happen here. But that doesn’t mean RTP doesn’t have its own place in Cheminova’s idea development. He points to business development, which happens here.

“They are involved in trying to identify business ideas,” he says, and the more innovative, the better. “The idea generation happens here in RTP.”