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Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Valent U.S.A. plans to expand its research facility in Leland, Miss., as well as build a new facility near Champaign, Ill. The investments are part of a wide-scale global research initiative announced earlier this month by parent company Sumitomo Chemical of Tokyo.
Construction at the Midsouth Agricultural Research Center will include the addition of more than 8,000 square feet of new compound characterization facilities. The environmentally controlled laboratory and greenhouse will support year-round bioassay screening of conventional and biological products in Valent’s pipeline.
The Midwest Agricultural Research Center, scheduled to open in December, will become the company’s center of Midwestern row crop research and agronomic training.
It will feature dedicated research farmland for commercial-scale testing of new formulations and products under development. It also will feature a training conference center and a seed treatment demonstration lab.
A 2,000-square-foot greenhouse will be added in 2017 to support year-round product development.