Agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. is expanding its research work in Pinal County, buying a new facility in Casa Grande.
Monsanto bought the year-old, 40,000-square-foot Pepsi distribution center in Casa Grande’s industrial district for $4 million.
The St. Louis-based company has about a dozen employees at a site in the town of Maricopa, where it has close ties to a University of Arizona research site.
The company also has an Eloy location, the former Delta and Pine Land Co. site, which it bought in 2007.
“The region represents an important agricultural environment for our cotton business,” Ty Vaughn, cotton technology lead for Monsanto, said in a media statement. “Having an even greater presence will allow us to develop and test our products right where they will be used by our farmer customers.”
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The company is working on seed increase and field testing for its cotton breeding programs and researching cotton yields and stress.
The university has partnered with Monsanto for years at the UA Maricopa Agriculture Center, said Bob Roth, an agricultural and biosystems engineering professor and the center’s director.
Monsanto pays to use UA fields with drip irrigation and flood irrigation to conduct experiments near the town of Maricopa.
The money helps fund UA scientists’ cutting-edge research, Roth said.
The company’s expansion could bring more research opportunities for UA research scientists to partner with Monsanto, he said.
The primary goal at the UA center is similar to Monsanto’s goal: to develop new lines that will help cotton become more profitable for growers, Roth said. A variety of scientists with expertise ranging from irrigation to pests to plant diseases work at the UA center.
The Central Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation announced Monsanto’s expansion on Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Christie Rhoden said the Foundation hopes this growth could attract more agricultural research to the region.
Contact reporter Becky Pallack at bpallack@azstarnet.com or 807-8012.
Read more on this story later today and tomorrow online and in the Arizona Daily Star.