Monsanto to close North Carolina research facility, move operations to St. Louis

Monsanto disclosed Monday that it will close three research and development centers next year, including one in Durham, North Carolina, and bring some of those jobs to its Chesterfield facility.
Monsanto has about 75 employees working out of the Research Triangle Park (RTP) site in Durham and plans to relocate about one-third of those jobs to St. Louis. Employees in roles not being relocated will receive a severance package under the Monsanto separation plan.

The RTP facility will close in calendar year 2016, with the remaining roles being eliminated at that time. Following the closure Monsanto, which entered Durham with the 2013 purchase of Duke University spinoff Grassroots Biotechnology, will have no Triangle presence.

The decision to close the facility is part of a strategy shift announced earlier this month– a broader plan that relocates some of the company’s R&D operations at facilities in Mystic, Connecticut, and Middleton, Wisconsin, along with RTP, to the Chesterfield Village Research Center site in Missouri. The Connecticut and Wisconsin

Monsanto officials said Monday that with the closures, they expect to relocate 65 jobs to the company's Chesterfield research headquarters, which is undergoing a $400 million expansion.
“We determined that significant synergies could be realized by relocating some of the research that is currently being explored at the Research Triangle Park facility to St. Louis,” said Lee Quarles, representative for Monsanto. “This move will enable stronger collaboration, create efficiencies and agility in our operations and communications and reinforce the convergence of our R&D platforms.”

The relocation will not impact the company's ongoing partnership with Novozymes, the Danish enzyme maker that has its North American headquarters in Franklinton and a growing RTP operation. Nor will it impact Monsanto's Mount Olive facility, where it keeps a handful of employees.