BASF, the German chemical giant, is moving the headquarters of its plant science division from Germany to Research Triangle Park.

The company already employs about 200 people in the park, where it is working to create genetically modified crops that will produce larger harvests or plants that will be better able to withstand drought, floods and rising ocean levels.

Adding the headquarters designation will mean transferring as many as 123 positions to the Triangle from sites in Europe.

Megan Lybrand, a BASF Plant Science spokeswoman, said the company does not yet know how many European employees will relocate.

“We’ll see what happens as far as colleagues choosing to join us,” she said, adding that the company expects to continue to expand its workforce.

Agricultural giant Monsanto is teaming up with N.C. State University to create a $500,000 fund for plant breeders, with the goal of helping them address the future food problems of the world.

The Monsanto Fellows in Plant Breeding and Scholarships in Advanced Analytics Fund will give students the opportunity to research alongside Monsanto scientists in addition to an education at N.C. State.

The fund also provides for four fellowships for doctoral students researching crop enhancement and six scholarships for master's degree candidates at the university's Institute for Advanced Analytics.

After watching Food, Inc. (UNC-TV, 9pm Wednesday), I see the value of the adage "Ignorance is bliss."

Because now that I'm more familiar with our food supply, trips to the supermarket seem fraught with danger.

There's the fruit and vegetables ripened artificially. Or the oversized chicken breasts, cut from overbred chickens, pumped with antibiotics. And how about the chance that my choice cut of beef is contaminated.

You'll learn about all that and more in this powerful documentary that's easy to digest (hee hee) because it's simply and effectively told, using not just talking heads, but also clever graphics and personal stories.

Agriculture giant Monsanto plans to study ways to improve the taste and nutrition of  fruits and vegetables at a burgeoning biotech campus in Kannapolis.

Company officials and the billionaire behind the N.C. Research Campus, Dole Foods' chairman David Murdock, announced the news this morning at an event in Kannapolis.

Starting in June, the company will have 10 to 12 employees working in about 9,000 square feet of lab and office on the campus and two or three visiting Monsanto scientists each year.

Monsanto joins other tenants at the campus, which opened in 2008, including N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, Red Hat and more. The 350-acre campus, built at the site of an old textile mill, is located north of Charlotte, about 150 miles west of Raleigh.