DuPont to spend $50M on bio systems

On the heels of a planned $32 million expansion of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.'s research facilities in the seed company's home state of Iowa, DuPont said Thursday that it will spend $50 million over five years to boost its biotech soybean research and development program at DuPont's Experimental Station in Wilmington and at its Stine Haskell Research Center in Newark.

DuPont is in a race with biotech rivals Monsanto, Syngenta, and Dow AgroSciences to create new genetically engineered corn and soybean seeds. The expansion is expected to add 75 full-time jobs in Delaware by the end of 2015.

The Delaware Economic Development Office has offered a $1.5 million grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund, but the company has to fulfill certain requirements and meet capital investment targets to get the money, the Delaware economic office said.

A $125,000 grant from the Delaware Department of Agriculture is also planned. The Iowa expansion won $7 million in state income tax credits from the Iowa Economic Development Board, according to the Des Moines Register.