Bayer CropScience opened a new $20 million greenhouse in Research Triangle Park on Friday that will be used to conduct crop research on soy, corn and other crops.
Half of the 60,000-square-foot facility is greenhouse space. The building also has office and meeting space and growth chambers, lab space, and seed handling and storage areas. A 70,000 gallon underground water storage tank will harvest rainwater for plant irrigation.
“This investment in research and people will help drive our developments in producing crops even more efficiently and sustainably,” said Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, a Bayer AG management board member, in a statement.
North Carolina is home to more than 70 agricultural technology companies and the Triangle in particular has become a hub for the industry. Earlier this year BASF, the German chemical giant, announced that it was moving the headquarters of its plant science division from Germany to RTP.
Syngenta, which employs 400 people in the park, is now constructing a $71 million greenhouse in RTP that will allow the company to simulate growing environments in any country where it wants to sell its seeds of corn, soybeans and sugarcane.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities also is building a $13.5 million agricultural-technology research center near RTP that is designed to bolster the state’s reputation as an industry hub. The center, which will include an 18,000-square-foot greenhouse where ag-tech startups can lease space, is expected to open this summer.
Business reporter David Bracken came to the N&O in 2004. He covers commercial and residential real estate. Contact David at 919-829-4548 or