Pioneer Hi-Bred opened seed production facility in Austria

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, today celebrates the official opening of its now fully operational maize parent seed production facility in Parndorf, Austria.

"This $6 million investment is a significant component of Pioneer Hi-Bred’s plans to deliver high quality seed to our expanding market and growing customer base in Europe. We’re expanding our production, research and testing facilities as well as the teams in our plants, in our labs and in the field," said Mike Gumina, Pioneer vice president of Production. "The establishment of this new production plant signifies the company’s commitment to providing high quality, pure parent seed to European farmers, helping them achieve the yield and quality leadership which differentiates Pioneer® brand seed from the rest," he added.

Pioneer has been producing commercial seed in Parndorf for nearly 30 years. The new plant is Pioneer Hi-Bred’s first parent seed production facility in Austria and second in Europe. It is located on 10,000 m2 of land in Parndorf and will primarily serve maize growers in Europe. With the additional equivalent 9 full-time employees working in the new plant, Pioneer Austria will employ more than 140 full-time employees in the country, plus up to 150 seasonal employees and 20 sales agents.

"The new parent seed production facility will complement our hybrid production capabilities in Austria and in the rest of Europe by ensuring high quality parent seed goes into our production processes to meet or exceed our own internal requirements for physiological, genetic and physical purity," commented Rudolf Kleiner, production manager, Pioneer Hi-Bred Northern Europe. "Pioneer is grateful to the Austrian government and specifically the WiBAG subsidy program for supporting this investment in the Parndorf parent seed production facility," he added.