Bayer CropScience to expand its research facilities in No. Carolina

Innovation continues to be a foundation for Bayer CropScience, positioning the company at the forefront of research into new science and technology.

A new $20 million state-of-the-art greenhouse plus other advances in research facilities will help Bayer continue to explore new opportunities to improve crop production efficiencies.

The new 60,000 sq. ft. greenhouse, which broke ground in May 2011 and will be occupied beginning Summer 2012, will house teams conducting GM and non-GM trait research, as well as supporting discovery research for molecular breeding and data packages for trait deregulation. This facility, along with the BioScience Innovation Center in Morrisville, will serve as a key research hub for Bayer CropScience's seeds and traits platform.

"The addition of this greenhouse to our current research facilities in Research Triangle Park exemplifies our commitment to investing in research infrastructure that will allow us to expand our efforts to develop new seed traits and technology solutions," says Mathias Kremer, Global Head of BioScience at Bayer CropScience. "We are very excited about getting into this building, as it will significantly increase our capacity to deliver innovations that will help farmers be even more productive."

Other changes to the RTP campus are underway as well with the expansion of research facilities to accommodate the Development North America (DNA) team, an integrated development organization supporting the business. The expansion of research facilities to accommodate this organization provides a strong platform for collaboration and idea exchange to help advance Bayer's commitment to propel the future of agriculture. The new state of the art residue and environmental fate laboratory support Bayer's commitment to developing high quality regulatory dossiers and discovering new crop protection technology for agriclulture.

A seed treatment formulation laboratory is also part of the innovation commitment on the RTP campus.

"We are excited about the experimental hub Bayer CropScience is creating in the Triangle area," said Adrian Percy, Vice President of Development North America. "This focus provides a fantastic platform for collaboration and exchange with our scientists across the business."

The completion of the greenhouse research facility and capital expansion to service the DNA team at Research Triangle Park are two examples of Bayer CropScience's investments to bolster research and development. These advancements, along with research partnerships at several other universities in the U.S. and globally, demonstrate Bayer's ongoing commitment to advancing science and technology that benefits food and fiber productivity.